
T " v v 




AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 



DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 



BF.ING AN EXHIBITION OF THE EVIDENCE 



THAT AN ANCIENT POPULATION OF PARTIALLY 

ENTIRELY FROM THOSE OF THE PRESENT INDIANS PEOPLED AMERICA 

MANY CENTURIES BEFORE ITS DISCOVERY BY COLUMBUS, 

AND INQUIRIES INTO THKIR ORIGIN, 



COPIOUS DESCRIPTION 

OF MANY OF THEIR STUPENDOUS WORKS NOW IN RUINS, 

WITH 
CONJECTURES CONCERNING WHAT MAY HAVE BECOME OP THEM. 



Compiled from Travels, Authentic Sources, and. th« 
Researches of Antiquarian Societies. 



BY JOSIAH PRIEST. 



Fifth Edition— '.12,(100 copies of this work have been published within thirty month* 
for Subscribers only; 



ALBANY: 

PRINTED BY HOFFMAN & WHITE. 

1838. 



Copy Right Secured according to act of Congr 



PREFACE. 

Although the subject of American antiquities is every where surrounded 
With its mysteries, yet we indulge the hope, that the volume we now present 
the public, will not be unacceptable, as on the account of its mysteriousness 
and obscurity we have been compelled to wander widely in the field of con- 
jecture, fr©*& "which it is not impossible but we may have produced some ori- 
ginal and novel opinions. 

We have felt that we are bound by the nature of the subject to treat wholly 
on those matters which relate to ages preceding the discovery of America by 
Columbus; as we apprehend no subject connected with the history of the 
continent since that time, can be entitled to the appellation of antiquities of 
America. 

If we may be permitted to judge from the liberal subscription this work has 
met with, notwithstanding the universal prejudice which exists against sub- 
scribing for books, we should d*aw the conclusion, that this curious subject 
has not its only admirers within the pales ot antiquarian societies. 

If it is pleasing as well as useful to know the history of one's country — if to 
feel a rising interest as its beginnings are unfolded — its sufferings — its wars — 
its struggles — and its victories delineated — why not also, when the story o f 
its antiquities, though of a graver and more majestic nature, are attempted to 
be rehearsed ? 

The traits of the ancient nations of the old world are every where shown by 
the fragments of dilapidated cities, pyramids of stone, and walls of wondrous 
length; but here are the wrecks of empire, whose beginnings, it would seem, 
are older than any of these, which are the mounds and works of the west, 
towering aloft, as if their builders were preparing against another flood. 

We have undertaken to elicit arguments, from what we suppose evidence, 
that the first inhabitants who peopled America, came on by land, at certain 
places where it is supposed once to have been united with Asia, Europe, and 
Africa, but has been torn asunder by the force of earthquakes and the irrup- 
tions of the waters, so that what animals had not passed over before this great. 
physical rupture, were forever excluded; but not so with men, as they could 
resort to the use of boats. 



IV PREFACE. 

We have gathered such evidence as induces a belief that America was, 
anciently, inhabited with partially civilized and agricultural nations, surpass- 
ing in numbers its present population. This, we imagine, we prove, in the 
discovery of thousands of the traits of the ancient operations of men over the 
entire cultivated parts of the continent, in the forms and under the character 
of mounds and fortifications, abounding particularly in the western regions. 

We have also ventured conjectures respecting what nations, in some few 
instances, may have settled here — also what may have become of them. We 
have entered on an examination of some of those works, and of some of the 
articles found on opening some few of their tumuli, which we have compared 
with similar articles found in similar works in various parts of the other con- 
tinents, from which very curious results are ascertained. 

As it respects some of the ancient nations who may have found their way 
hither, we perceive a strong probability that not only Asiatic nations, very 
soon after the flood, but that also all along the different eras of time, different 
races of men, as Polynesians, Malays, Australasians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, 
Greeks, Romans, Israelites, Tartars, Scandinavians, Danes, Norwegians, 
Welsh and Scotch, have colonized different parts of the continent. 

We have also attempted to show that America was peopled before the 
flood ; that it was the country of Noah, and the place where the ark was 
erected. The highly interesting subject of American antiquities, we are in- 
clined to believe, is but just commencing to be developed. The immensity of 
country yet beyond the settlements of men, towards the Pacific, is yet to be 
explored by cultivation, when other evidences, and wider spread, will come to 
view, affording perhaps more definite conclusions. 

As aids in maturing this volume, we have consulted the works of philoso- 
phers, historians, travellers, geographers, gazetteers, the researches of anti- 
quarian societies, with miscellaneous notices on this subject, as found in the 
periodicals of the day. The subject has proved as difficult as mysterious: any 
disorder and inaccuracies, therefore, in point of inferences which we have 
made, we beg may not become the subjects of the severities of criticism. 

If, however, we should succeed in awakening a desire to a farther investi- 
gation of this curious subject, and should have the singular happiness of secu- 
ring any degree of public respect, and of giving the subscriber an equivalent 
for his patronage, the utmost of the desires of the author will be realized. 

JOSIAH PRIEST. 



CONTENTS. 



Page, 

Location of Mount Ararat, from whence mankind after the 
flood repeopled the earth, 9 

Origin of human complexions, with the ancient significa- 
tions of the three sons of Noah, 14 

Respecting a division of the earth, by Noah, between his 
three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, 24 

The identity and real name of the person called Melchise- 
dec, of the Scriptures, 26 

Division of the earth by convulsions, in the days of Peleg, 
the grandson of Noah, and of the first spreading out of 
the nations after the flood, with other curious matter, ... 34 

Antiquities of western America, the works of ancient na- 
tions, » 40 

Supposed ruins of a Roman fort at Marietta, in Ohio, and 
conjectures how the Romans may have known of this 
country, 44 

Course of the ten lost tribes of Israel, when they left As- 
syria for the country of Arsareth, 58 

Convulsions of the globe, which separated America from the 
two continents east and west of it, and of the removal of 
large islands, • • • • 82 

Evidences of the Danes of Europe in this country, as 
shown by various traces of their works, 86 



VI CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Discoveries on the Muskingum river, the work of ancient 
European people, with an account of many curious mat- 
ters, 90 

Discoveries of the remains of ancient pottery in many pla- 
ces of the west, 110 

Traces of an Egyptian custom in Kentucky, in the disco- 
very of a catacomb of mummies, 114 

A curious specimen of the ancient Phoenician letters, an 
ancient people, once living on the shores of the Mediter- 
ranean, . . . 4 4.4 4 4 * * ♦ 4* . 4 '4 * » » 4 120 

A remarkable specimen of the ancient letters or alphabet of 
America, compared with the ancient Lybian or African 

alphabet, \ 12*2 

A further account of western antiquities, with antideluvian 
traits, and of the means by which the fountains of the 

great deep were broken up, 129 

Discovery of a curious ivory image in a bone mound near 
Cincinnati, by some supposed to represent the Virgin 

Marv p td the child Jesus, 142 

cavern of the west, in which are found many curious 

carvings, done by the ancient inhabitants, 144 

Tracks of men and animals found impressed in a rock on 

the top of a mountain in Tennessee, and elsewhere, .... 156 
Story of Cotubamana,the giant chief of an American island 159 
A further account of discoveries in the west, as given by 

the Antiquarian Society, at Cincinnati, 164 

Immense works of the ancient nations on the east side of 

the Muskingum, 167 

Ruins of ancient works at Circleville, Ohio, ^. . . 169 

Ruins of ancient works on Paint creek, Ohio, 172 

Ancient wells found in the bottom of Paint creek, 174 

A description of western tumuli or mounds, 177 



CONTENTS. Vll 

Works of the ancient nations in ruins on the north fork of 
Paint creek, Ohio, 189 

Traits of anctent cities on the Mississippi, near St. Louis, 193 
Tradition of the Mexican natives respecting their migration 

from the north to that country, 195 

i Supposed uses of the ancient roads, as connected with the 

mounds, still traceable in some places, 198 

Traits of the Mosaic history found among the Azteca In- 
dians of Mexico, , 205 

A curious account of the ceremonies of fire worship, as once 

practised by certain tribes on the Arkansas, 215 

Supposed origin of fire worship among the ancients, 218 

A further account of western antiquities, compared with si- 
milar discoveries in Russia, 220 

A curious account of the discovery of America by the Nor- 
wegians and Welch, 8 and 900 years ago, • • • • 229 

Ruins of the city of Otolum, built of hewn stone, 800 miles 

below New Orleans, 246 

A specimen of the ancient manner of the American nations, 

combining their letters so as to spell, 248 

Great stone calendar of the Mexicans, with a fac simile of 

the engravings on it, . , 255 

State of the arts of the ancient inhabitants of America, as 

shown by articles found in their tumuli, 263 

Great size of some of the Mexican mounds, 274 

Predilection of the ancients to pyramid or tumuli building, 275 

A curious specimen of antediluvian letters, t 280 

Voyages and shipping of the Mongol Tartars, and settle- 
ments on the western coast of America, 288 

A further account of western discoveries, 290 

Various opinions of antiquarians respecting the original in- 
habitants of this country, 293 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Page 

Voyages of the ancients from Italy and from Africa to the 

continent of America and its adjacent islands, 298' 

Further remarks on the subject of human complexions,. . . 301 
Cannibalism practised in America and in other countries,. 308 
The Atlantic nations of America, by C. S. Rafinesque, . . . 313. 
Primitive origin of the English language by C. S. Rafin- 
esque, 315* 

An account of colonies of Danes in America, from Europe, 322 
Ancient chronology of the Onguys or Iroquois Indians, . . . 335 
An African tradition respecting the origin of human com- 
plexions, 338 

Of the disappearance of many ancient lakes of the west, 

and of the formation of seacoal, 339 

Further remarks on the draining of the western country of 

its ancient lakes, 356 

Supposed causes of the disappearance of the ancient Amer- 
ican inhabitants, , 361 

Lake Ontario supposed to have been formed by the crater 

of a volcano, 364 

Remarks on geology, against the system which supposes the 

earth to have existed many ages before man was created, 371 
Remarks of Wm. Wirt on the history of ancient America, 377 
Resemblance of the western Indians to the ancient Greeks, 379 

Traits of the Romans in America, 385 

Traits of white nations in Georgia and Kentucky, before 
Columbus' time, and the traditions of the Indians respect- 
ing them, 390 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

AND 

DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 



A lofty summit on a range of mountains, called Ararat, in 
Asia, furnished the resting place of the Ark, which contained the 
progenitors of both man and animals, who have replenished the 
Globe since the era of the Deluge. 

Ararat is a chain of mountains, running partly round the south- 
ern end of the Caspian, and is situated between the Caspian and 
Black Seas ; in latitude north, about 38 deg. agreeing with the 
middle of the United States, and is from London, a distance of 
about two thousand four hundred miles, in a southeasterly course, 
and from the Atlantic coast of the State of New York, nearly six 
thousand, in an exact easterly direction. 

We give the following from the recent travels of Sir Robert 
Ker Porter, which cannot but be highly interesting ; as his account 
respects the actual appearance of Ararat, having examined it 
himself, in 1820. 

"On leaving our halting place, where we had rested for the 
night a fuller view of the great plain of Ararat gradually expand- 
ed before us, and the mountain itself in all its majesty, began to 
tower to the very canopy of heaven. We now took a descending 
position due east over a stony and difficult road ; which carried 



10 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ais for more than ten werst, (or eight miles) through several close 
and rocky defiles, till we reached a small Mahometan village on 
the side of the Mosschian hills, where we again halted for the 
night. On the morning of the l?th, we set forth over a road as 
bad as that of the day before, in a direction southeast, and grad- 
ually descending from a great height through a very extended 
slqpeing country towards the immense plain of Ararat. 

As the vale opened beneath us in our decent my whole atten- 
tion became absorbed in the view before me. A vast plain peopled 
with countless villages, and the subordinate range of mountains 
skiriting the base of the awful monument of the antediluvian world. 
I seemed to stand on a stupendous brink in the history of man, 
uniting the two races of men before and after the flood. But it 
was not till we had arrived on the flat plain that I beheld Ararat 
in all its amplitude of grandeur. From the spot where I stood it 
appeared as if the hugest mountains of the world had been piled 
upon each other to form this sublime immensity of earth, rock and 
snow. The icy peaks of its double heads rose majestically into 
the clear and cloudless heavens, from which the suns rays were 
reflected in an ocean of light glaring around its summits. This 
stage of the view united the utmost points of the grandeur of plain 
and inaccessable mountain height. The inhabitants dwelling on 
the plain, around this mountain, all unite in reverencing it as the 
haven of the great ship which preserved the father of mankind 
from the waters of the deluge. The height of Ararat has never 
yet been stisfactorily measured ; but the best measurments of it 
was taken by Montieth of the Madras engineers, from the spot 
where Porter viewed it to the highest point of the loftiest head, and 
was found to be fifty-five thousand yards, which is full five miles 
and a half perpendicular altitude. At the distance of about a half 
mile from the highest peak, there ascends another horn or point of 
the mountain, but not as high as the former. In order to pro- 
duce those two peaks, the mountain, a great distance up, is di- 
vided. Between these two points on the narrow vale it is be- 
lieved the Ark rested, as it was impossible that it could have rest- 
ed on either of the inaccessible points, which have never been 
trodden by the foot of man, being perpetually covered with snow 
and ice, while the plain around is adorned with verdure. 

On the eastern side of this mountain the slope is gentle, so far 
<up as where it divides into the fingers ; but on the other sides it 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 11 

is very steep, jagged and precipitous, giving off branches in a con- 
fused and broken manner, stretching off northward after the gen- 
eral range of the mountains of Armenia. 

This peculiar form must have favored the descent of the family 
of Noah into the plains below where he first commenced the cul- 
tivation of the vine, and of other plants calculated to produce food. 

From all appearances, this tremendous mountain is the product 
of internal fires, which it is likely were in operation before the 
flood, as no traditions of the inhabitants speak of its having been 
a volcano since that time. 

The descending portion of the country, which bounds the great 
plain being partly round the base of Ararat, favors this supposi- 
tion, as well also as the nature of the strata which forms the moun- 
tains giving evidence, by the vast quantities of eruptive matter 
that here burnt, one of the volcanic fires of the antediluvian world." 
(Porter's Travels, vol. 1, pp. 181— 185. J) 

We have been thus particular to describe the exact situation, as 
generally allowed, of that range of mountains ; because from this 
place, which is nearly on the western end of the Asiatic continent, 
Noah and his posterity descended, and spread themselves over 
many parts of the earth, and as we suppose, even to America, re- 
newing the race of man, which well nigh had become extinct from 
the devastation and ruin of the universal flood. 

But that the flood of Noah was universal is gravely doubted ; 
in proof of which, the abettors of this doubt, bring the traditional 
history of the ancient Chinese. Professor Rafinesque, of the city 
of Philadelphia, confessedly a learned and most able antiquarian, 
has recently advanced the following exceedingly interesting and 
curious matter, which relates to this subject, as follows. 

"History of China before the Flood. The traditions preserved 
by many ancient nations of the earliest history of the earth and 
mankind, before and after the great floods, which have desolated 
the globe, are highly interesting. 

Ancient China was in the eastern slopes and branches of the 
mouutains of Central Asia, the hoary Imalaya, where it is .as yet 
very doubtful whether the flood thoroughly extended." 

But though this is doubted, we cannot subscribe to the opinion, 
however great our deference may be for the ability and research 
•of those who have ventured to doubt. We feel by far a greater 



12 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

deference for the statement of the Heb rew author of the book of 
Genesis ; an historian of the highest accredited antiquity. This 
author says plainly, that "all the high hills under the whole heav- 
en were covered ;" and that "fifteen cubits and upwards, the wa- 
ters prevailed ; and the mountains were covered." But not so, if 
we are to believe the above suggestion, which would leave a very 
large tract of country of Central Asia exempt from the flood of 
Noah. 

This opinion, which contradicts the Bible account of that flood, 
is founded on "the traditional history of China,, which speaks of 
two great floods which desolated, but did not overflow the land. 
They answer, says Mr. Rafinesque, to the two great floods of 
Noah and Peleg, recorded in the Bible. "The latter, the flood of 
Peleg, or Yao, was caused, he says,, by volcanic paroxysms all 
over the earth ;" but "much less fatal than the flood of Noah, or 
Yu-ti, in China," which was no doubt the fact. 

Respecting this flood, "the following details are taken chiefly 
from the Chinese historians, Liu-yu and Lo-pi, whose works are 
called Y-tese, and Uai-ki, as translated by Leroux." These say, 
that "the first flood happened under the 8th Ki, or period called 
Yu-ti, and the first emperor of it," was "Chin-sang, about 3170 
years before Christ," 826 before the flood. 

But neither can this be true, as the flood of Noah took place 1656 
years from the creation, fwhich would be but 2344 years before 
Christ ; being a mistake of about 826 years. Wherefore, if there 
is any truth in the Chinese history at all, it must allude to some 
flood before that of Noah ; an account of which may have been 
received from Noah himself, and preserved by the Chinese. 

The flood alluded to, by the above named historians, did not, it is 
true, according to their account, overflow the whole earth, but was 
such as that the waters did not return to their usual channels for 
a long time ; "The misery of mankind was extreme ; the beasts 
and serpents were very numerous ;" being driven together by the 
pursuit of the waters, and also "storms and cold" had greatly in- 
creased. Chin-sang collected the wandering men to unite against 
the wild beasts, to dress their skins for clothing, and to weave their 
fur into webs and caps. This emperor was venerated for these 
benefits, and began a Shi, or dynasty that lasted 350 years." 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 13 

This account would suit very well to the character of Nimrod 
the founder of the first monarchy after the flood, whom we are 
much inclined to think the Chinese historians point out, instead of 
any king before the era of the flood of Noah. 

But to the research of the highly gifted antiquarian, Rafinesque, 
we are greatly indebted in one important respect, as it is well known 
that persons in the learned world have greatly admired the boast- 
ed antiquity of the Chinese nations, who, by their records, make 
the earth much older than the account given by Moses. But this 
philosopher on this subject writes as follows : "The two Chinese 
words, Ki and Shi translated period and dynasty, or family, are 
of some importance. As they now stand translated, they would 
make the world very old ; since no less than ten Ki, or periods, 
are enumerated, (we are in the 10th ;) wherein 232 Shi, or dy- 
nasties of emperors, are said to have ruled in China, during a 
course of 276,480 years Christ, at the lowest computation ; and 
96,962,220 before Christ, at the highest ; with many intermedia- 
ry calculations, by various authors. 

But if Ki, he says, may also mean a dynasty, or division, or 
people, as it appears to do in some instances, and Shi, an age, or 
a tribe, or reign, the whole preposterous computation will prove 
false, or be easily reduced to agree with those of the Hindoos, Per- 
sians and Egyptians ;" and come within the age of the earth as 
given in the Scriptures. 

If the central region of Asia, may have been exempted from 
that flood, we may then safely inquire whether other parts of the 
globe may not also have been exempt ; where men and animals 
were preserved ; and thus the account of the Ark, in which, as 
related by Moses, both men and animals were saved, is completely 
-overturned. But the universal traditions of all nations, contradict 
this, while the earth, every where shows signs of the operations 
of the waters, in agreement with this universal tradition. If such 
a flood never took place, which rushed over the earth with extra- 
ordinary violence, how, it may be enquired, are there found in Si- 
beria, in north latitude 60 and 70 deg. great masses of the bones 
of the elephant and rhinoceros — animals of the hot regions of the 
equator. From this it is evident that the flood which wafted the 
bodies of those animals, rolled exactly over all China and the Hindoo 
regions. In all parts of the earth, even on the highest regions and 



14 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

mountains, are found oceanic remains. Whales have been found 
in the mountains of Greenland, and also in other parts, as in Amer- 
ica, far from the ocean. 

Chinese history, it is true, gives an account of many floods, 
which have ruined whole tracts of that country, as many as sixty- 
five, one of which, in the year 185 before Christ, it is said, form- 
ed that body of water called the Yellow Sea, situated between Co- 
rea and China. 

But were the histoy of American floods written, occasioned by 
similar causes : such as rivers rupturing their mountain barriers ; 
and the shocks of earthquakes, since the time of Noah's flood ; 
who could say there would not be as many. We shall have oc- 
casion to speak of this subject before we close this volume, 

It is said that the history of China gives an account of the state 
of mankind before the flood of Yuti, or Noah, and represents them 
as having been happy, ruled by benevolent monarchs, who took 
nothing and gave much ; the world submitted to their virtues and 
good laws ; they wore no crowns, but long hair ; never made war, 
and put no one to death. But this is also contrary to the account 
of Moses ; who says the earth before the flood was corrupt before 
God, and was filled with violence. But they carry their descrip- 
tion of the happiness of men so high, as to represent perfect har- 
mony as having existed between men and animals ; when men liv- 
ed on roots and the fruits of the earth ; that they did not follow 
hunting ; property was common, and universal concord prevailed. 
From this high wrought account of the pristine happiness of man, 
we are at once referred to the original state of Adam in Paradise, 
and to his patriarchal government after his fall and it is likely also 
to that of his successors, till men had -nultiplied in the earth ; so as 
to form conflicting interests, when the rapine and violence com- 
menced, as spoken of by Moses, which it seems grew worse and 
worse, till the flood came and took them all away. 

That the central parts of Asia were not overflown by the deluge,, 
appears of vast importance to some philosophers of the present 
day to be established. For if so, we see, say they at once, how 
both men and animals were preserved from that flood ; and yet this 
does not, they say, militate against the Mosaic account ; for the 
very word ark is in the original language, theba and signifies re- 
fuge, and is the country of Thibet. So that when Moses talked 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 15 

about an ark, he only meant the central part of Asia, or Thibet^ 
in which men and animals were saved, instead of a vessel. 

Theba, or Thibet, situated in what is called Central Asia, and in 
size equal to three fourths of the area of the United States, is in- 
deed the highest part of that continent, and produces mountains 
higher than any other part of the earth : yet Moses says, that the 
flood prevailed fifteen cubits and upwards above the highest moun- 
tains. 

Thibet is situated in latitude 30 degrees north, exactly between 
Farther India, Hindostan and Siberia, where banks of the bones 
of equatorial animals are found, as we have noticed; by which we 
ascertain that the deluge rolled over this very Theba, the country 
supposed to have been left dry at the time of Noah's flood. 

The Mosaic account plainly says that God said to Noah, " make" 
thee an ark of gopher wood." • Surely Noah did not make the cen- 
tral part of Asia, called Theba or Thibet ; neither was he com- 
manded to do so, as it would have taken much gopher wood to 
have formed the whole, or a part of so large a country. But re- 
specting the word which is translated ark in the scriptures, it is 
said by Adam Clarke to be in the original Tebath, and not Theba. 

The word Tebath, he says, signifies vessel, and means no more 
nor less than a vessel, in its most common acceptation, a hollow 
place, capable of containing persons, goods, &c. The idea, there- 
fore, that the word ark signified the central parts of Asia, called 
Theba or Thibet, falls to the ground; while the history, as given 
by Moses, respecting the flood of Noah, remains unshaken. 

The same author has also discovered that a race of ancient 
people in South America, called the Zapotecas, boast of being an- 
tediluvian in America, and to have built the city of Coat-Ian, so 
named because this city was founded at a place which swarmed 
with serpents, therefore named Snake city, or Coat-Ian, built 327 
years before the flood, and that at the time of the flood, a remnant 
of them, together with their king, named Pet-ela, (or dog,) saved 
themselves on a mountain of the same name, Coat-Ian. 

But we consider this tradition to relate only to the first efforts at 
architecture after the flood of Noah, round about the region of 
Ararat, and on the plains of Shinar. The very circumstance of 
this tribe being still designated by that of the Dog tribe, is an evi- 



16 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

-dence that they originated not before the flood as a nation, but in 
Asia, since that era; for in Asia, as in America, tribes of men 
have also been thus designated, and called after the various ani- 
mals of the woods. The Snake Indians are well known to the 
western explorers in America, as also many other tribes, who are 
named after various wild animals. And the circumstance of their 
city being built at a place where there were many serpents, shows 
the allusion to point to the same time and place spoken of on page 
11, where the Chinese historians, Liu-yu and Lo-pi say the ser- 
pents were driven together by the waters, at the flood of Peleg, — 
where, according to the Zapotecas,the city of Snakes, or Coat-Ian, 
was built. 

Many of the first nations were called after serpents, — as the 
Hivites, the Ophites, the Eihiops, or Ethiopians, Bassolidians,&c. 
— all derived, it is likely, from circumstances variously relating to 
the abundance of serpents in those times, and abounding at certain 
places more than others. Even the adoration and worship of that 
terrible reptile obtained among many nations, before as well as 
after the Christian era. 



Supposed Origin of Human Complexions, with the ancient 
signification of the names of the three sons of Noah, and 
other curious matter. 

The sons of Noah were three, as stated in the book of Genesis, 
between whose descendants, the whole earth, in process of time, 
became divided. This division appears to have taken place in the 
earliest ages of the first nations after the flood, in such manner as 
to suit or correspond with the several constitutions of those nations 
in a physical sense, as well as with a reference to the various 
complexions of the descendants of these three heads of the human 
race. 



I 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 17 

This preparation of the nations, respecting animal constitution 
and color, at the fountain head, must have been directed by the 
.hand of the Creator, in an arbitrary manner; by which not only 
his sovreignty, as the Governor of the earth, with all its tribes, is 
manifest, but also his wisdom; because the same physical consti- 
tutions which are suited to the temperate and frigid zones of the 
globe, could not endure the burning climates of the torrid; so nei- 
ther are the constitutions of the equatorial nations so tempered as 
equally to enjoy the snowy and ice-bound regions in the high la- 
titudes north and south of the equator. 

The very names, or words, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, were in 
the language of Noah, (which was probably the pure Hebrew, 
in some sense, significant of their future national character. We 
proceed to show in what sense their names were descriptive, pro- 
spectively, of their several destinies in the earth, as well also as 
that Ham was the very name of his color, or complexion. 

The word Shem, says Dr. Clarke, signifies renown, in the lan- 
guage of Noah; which, as that great man, now no more, remarks, 
has been wonderfully fulflled, both in a temporal and spiritual 
sense. In a temporal sense, first, as follows : His posterity 
spread themselves over tbe finest regions of Upper and Middle 
Asia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, Persia, and the 
Indus, Ganges, and possibly to China, still more eastward. 

The word Japheth, which was the name of Noah's third son, 
has also its meaning, and signifies, according to the same author, 
that which may be exceedingly enlarged, and capable of spread- 
ing to a vast extent. 

His posterity diverged eastward and westward from Ararat, 
throughout the whole extent of Asia, north of the great range of 
the Taurus and Ararat mountains, as far as the Eastern ocean ; 
whence, as he supposses, they crossed over to America, at the 
straits of Behring, and in the opposite direction from those moun- 
tains, throughout Europe, to the Mediterranean sea, south from 
Ararat; and to the Atlantic ocean west from that region; whence 
also they might have passed over to America, by the way of Ice- 
land, Greenland, and so on to the continent, along the coast of 
Labrador, where traces of early settlements remain, in parts now 
desert. Thus did Japheth enlarge himself, till his posterity liter- 



18 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ally encompassed the earth, from latitude 35 degrees north and 
upward, toward the pole. 

The word Ham signified that which was burnt or Mack. The 
posterity of this son of Noah peopled the hot regions of the earth, 
on either side the equator. 

But as it respects the complexions of these heads of the nations 
of the earth, we remark as follows : Shem was undoubtedly a 
red or copper colored man, which was the complexion of all the 
antediluvians. 

This conclusion is drawn from the fact, that the nations inha- 
biting the countries named as being settled or peopled by the de- 
scendants of Shem have always been, and now are, of that cast. 
We deem this fact as conclusive, that such was also their proge- 
nitor, Shem, as that the great and distinguishing features and 
complexion of nations change not materially. Shem was the 
father of the Jewish race, who are of the same hue, varying it 
is true, some being of a darker, and some of a lighter shade, aris- 
ing from secret and undefinable principles, placed beyond the re- 
search of man; and also, from amalgamation by marriage with 
white, and with the darker nations, as the African. But to cor- 
roborate our opinion that the antediluvians were of a red, or cop- 
per complexion, we bring the well-known statement of Josephus, 
that Adam, the first of men, was a red man, made of read earth, 
called virgin earth, because of its beauty and pureness. The 
word Adam, he also says, signifies that color which is red. To 
this account the tradition of the Jews corresponds, who, as they 
are the people most concerned, should be allowed to know most 
about it. 

Shem, therefore, must have been a red man, derived from the 
complexion of the first man, Adam. And his posterity, as above 
described, are accordingly of the same complexion; this is well 
known of all the Jews, unmixed with those nations that are fairer, 
as attested by history, and the traveller of every age, in the 
countries they inhabit. 

The word Ham, which was the name of the second son of No- 
ah, is the word which was descriptive of the color which is black, 
or burnt. This we show from the testimony of Dr. Hales, of 
England, who was a celebrated natural philosopher and mathema- 
tician of the 17th century, who is quoted by Adam Clarke, to show 



AND DISCOVEKTES IN THE WEST. 19 

that the word Ham, in the language of Noah, which was that of 
the antediluvians, was the term for that which was Mack. 

It is not possible, from authority so high and respectable, that 
doubts can exists respecting the legitimacy of this word, and of 
its ancient application. Accordingly, as best suited to the com- 
plexion of the descendants of Ham, the hot regions of the equator 
were allotted to those nations. 

To the Cushites, the southern climes of Asia, along the coast 
of the Persian gulf, Susiane, or Cushistan, Arabia, Canaan, Pa- 
lestine, Syria, Egypt and Lybia in Africa. These countries 
were settled by the posterity of Ham, who were, and now are, of 
a glossy black. 

But the vast variety of shades and hues of the human face, 
are derived from amalgamations of the three original complexions, 
red, black, and white. This was the act of God, giving to the 
three persons, upon whom the earth's population depended, by 
way of perpetuity, such complexions, and animal constitutions, 
as should be best suited to the several climates, which he intend- 
ed, in the progress of his providence, they should inhabit. 

The people of these countries, inhabited respectively by these 
heads of nations, the immediate descendants of Shem, Ham and 
Japheth, still retain, in full force, the ancient, pristine red, white, 
and black complexions, except where each have intruded upon the 
other, and become scattered, and mingled, in some degree, over 
the earth. Accordingly, among the African nations, in their own 
proper countries, now and then a colony of whites have fixed 
their dwellings. Among the red nations are found, here and there, 
as in some of the islands of the Pacific, the pure African; and 
both the black and the red are found among the white nations; 
but now, much more than in the earliest ages, a general amalga- 
mation of the three original colors exists. 

When we speak of the original, or pristine complexions, we do 
not mean before the flood, except in the family of Noah, as it is 
our opinion that neither the black or the white was the complexion 
of Adam and all the nations before the flood, but that they have 
been produced by the power and providence of the Creator in the 
family of Noah only. 

Much has been written to establish the doctrine of the influence 
of climate and food, in producing the vast extremes between a fair 

2* 



20 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

and ruddy white, and a jet blaek. But this mode of reasoning, to 
establish the origin of the human complexion, we imagine very 
inconclusive and unsatisfactory; as it is found that no distance of 
space, lapse of ages, change of diet, or of countries, can possibly 
" remove the leopard's spots, or change the Ethiopian's skin." 
No lapse of ages has been known to change a white man and his 
posterity to the hue or shape of an African, although the hottest 
rays of the burning clime of Lybia, may have scourched him ages 
unnumbered, and its soil have fed him with its roots and berries, 
an equal length of time. It is granted, however, that a white 
man with his posterity, will tan very dark by the heat of the sun; 
but it can never alter, as it never has altered, the shape of his 
face from that which was characteristic of his nation or people, 
nor the form of his limbs, nor curie his hair, turning it to a wool, 
provided, always, the blood be kept pure and unmixed. 

Power in the decomposition of food, by the human stomach, 
does not exist of sufficient force to overturn the deep foundation 
of causes established in the very germ of being, by the Creator. 
The circumstance of what a man may eat, or where he may 
chance to breathe, cannot derange the economy of first princi- 
ples. Were it so, it were not a hard matter for the poor African, 
if he did but know this choice trait of philosophy, to take hope 
and shake off entirely his unfortunate skin, in process of time, 
and no longer be exposed, solely on that account, to slavery, 
chains, and wretchedness. 

But the inveteracy of complexion against the operation of cli- 
mate, is evinced by the following, as related by Morse. On the 
eastern coast of Africa, in latitude 5 deg. north, are found jet 
black, towny, olive, and white inhabitants, all speaking the same 
language, which is the Arabic. This particular part of Africa 
is called the Magadoxo kingdom : the inhabitants are a stout, war- 
like nation, of the Mahometan religion. Here, it appears, is per- 
manent evidence that climate or food have no effect in materially 
changing the hues of the complexion, each retaining their own 
original tincture; even the white is found as stubborn in this tor- 
rid sky, as the black in the northern countries. 

The whites found there are the descendants of the ancient Ro- 
mans, Vandals and Goths, who were, it is asserted by John Leo, 
the African, who wrote a description of Africa in Arabic, all an- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 21 

ciently comprehend under the general name of Mauri, or Moors, 
as well as the black Moors themselves. — {Morse's Universal Ge- 
ography, vol. ii., pp. 754, 781 .) 

Procopius, a Greek historian of the 6th century, speaks of a 
race of fair complexioned people, with ruddy countenances and 
yellow hair, who dwelt far within the desert of Lybia, which is 
Africa. The same race was found by Dr. Thomas Shaw, the 
antiquary, who was born in the 17th century, who speaks of them 
as retaining their fair complexion and yellow hair, although a 
lapse of years, no less than twelve hundred had transpired, from 
the time of Procopious till the time of Dr. Shaw. The latitude of 
their country is between 10 and 12 degrees south. — Encyclopedia, 
vol. vi., part 2, p. 668, American edition J 

Shem, according to the commonly received opinion, was the 
eldest son of Noah; and as the complexion of this child did not 
differ from that of other children, born before the flood, all of 
whom are supposed to have been red, or of the copper hue, on the 
ground of Adam's complexion; Noah did not, therefore, name 
the child at first sight, from any extraordinary impulse arising 
from any singular appearance in the complexion, but rather, as 
it was his first born son, he called him Shem, that is, renown, 
which name agrees, in a surprising manner, with what we have 
hereafter to relate, respecting this character. 

The impulse in the mind of Noah, which moved him to call this 
first son of his Shem, or renown, may have been similar to that 
of the patriarch Jacob respecting his first born son. He says, 
Reuben, thou art my first born, my might, and the beginning of 
my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of 
power. The ideas are similar, both leading to the Came conse- 
quence; in one case it is renown, in the other the excellency of 
power, which is equivalent to renown. 

It is not unusual for parents to feel this sensation, on the birth 
of a first child, especially if it be a son; however, it is not impos- 
sible but the prophetic spirit moved Noah so to name this son by 
the extraordinary appellation, renown, or Shem; and the chief 
trait of celebrity which was to attach itself to the character of 
Shem, was to arise out of the fact of his being the type of the 
Messiah; and the time was to come when this person, after the 
flood should have passed away, would be the only antediluvian 



22 AMERICAN ANTIQUIEIES 

survivor; on which account, all mankind must, of necessity, by 
natural and mutual consent, look up to this man with extraordina- 
ry veneration. 

By examining the chronological account of the Jewish records, 
we find the man Shem lived five hundred years after the flood, 
and that he over-lived Abraham about forty years. So that he 
was not only the oldest man on the earth at that time, but also the 
only surviving antediluvian, as well as the great typical progeni- 
tor of the adorable Messiah. 

Here was a foundation for renown, of sufficient solidity to jus- 
tify the prophetic spirit in moving Noah to call him She?n, a name 
full of import, full of meaning, pointing its signification, in a 
blaze of light, to him whose birth and works of righteousness 
were to be of consequences the highest in degree to the whole 
race ot Adam, in the atonement. 

But at the birth of Ham, it was different. When this child was 
born, we may suppose the house or tent to have been in an up- 
roar, on the account of his strange complexion; the news of which, 
we may suppose, soon reached the ear of the father, who, on be- 
holding it, at once, in the form of an exclamation, cried out Ham ! 
that is, it is Mack ! and this word became his name. 

It is believed, that in the first ages of the world, things were 
named from their supposed qualities; and their supposed qualities 
arose from first appearances. In this way, it is imagined, Adam 
named all the animals at first sight; as the Lord God caused them 
to pass before him, a sudden impulse arising in his mind, from the 
appearance of each creature; so that a suitable name was given. 

This was natural; but not more so than it was for Noah to call 
his second son Ham, because he was black ; being struck by this 
uncommon, unheard of complexion, which impelled him at once 
to name him as he looked. 

We suppose the same influence governed at the birth Japheth, 
and that at the birth of this child, greater surprise still must have 
pervaded the household of Noah, as white was a east of complex- 
ion still more wonderful than either red or blacky as these two last 
named complexions bear a stronger affinity to each other than to 
that of white. 

No sooner, therefore, as we may suppose, was the news of the 
birth of this third son carried to Noah, than, being anxious to em- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 23 

brace him, saw with amazement, that it was diverse from the other 
two, and from all mankind; having not the least affinity of com- 
plexion with any of the human race; and being in an ecstacy, at 
the sight of so fair and rudy an infant, beautifully white and 
transparent of complexion, cried out, while under the influence 
of his joy and surprise, Japheth ! which word became his name; 
to this, however, he added afterwards, God shall greatly enlarge 
Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem and Canaan; 
that is, Ham shall be his servant; so that, in a political sense, he 
was higher than the other two. 

But if our opinion on this subject is esteemed not well support- 
ed, we would add one other circumstance, which would seem to 
amount to demonstration, in proving Ham and his posterity to 
have been black at the outset. 

The circumstance is as follows : At two particular times, it ap- 
pears from Genesis, that Noah declared, Ham, with his posterity, 
should serve or become servants to both the posterity of Shem 
and Japheth. If one were to inquire whether this has been ful- 
filled or not, what would be the universal answer ? It would be 
■ — it has been fulfilled. But in what way ? Who are the people ? 
The universal answer is, the African race are the people. But 
how is this proved, unless we allow them to be the descendants of 
Ham? 

If, then, they are his descendants, they have been such in every 
age, from the very beginning; and the same criterion, which is 
their color, has distinguished them. This proves their progeni- 
tor, Ham, to have been black; or otherwise, it had been impossi- 
ble to distinguish them from the posterity of the other two, Shem 
and Japheth; and whether the denunciation of Noah has been 
fulfilled or not, would be unknown. But as it is known, the sub- 
ject is clear; the distinguishing trait by which Ham's posterity 
were known at first, must of necessity have been, as it is now, 
black. But some may imagine, that as we do not know the com- 
plexions of the wives of the three sons of Noah; that our hy- 
pothesis is defective. This, however, is not difficult to determine, 
as they must have been red, or copper-colored, like the rest of 
the antediluvians, unless we suppose them born with complexions 
like their husbands, for the same purposes, and occasioned by the 
same power. But whether this was so or not, it could have made 



24 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

no material difference; as it is from the male, the blood of all the- 
animal creation receives its specific character. 

We have dwelt thus far upon the subject of human complex- 
ions, because there are those who imagine the variety now found 
among men, to have originated purely from climate, food, and 
manner of living; while others suppose a plurality of fathers to 
have been the cause, in contradiction of the account in Genesis, 
where one man is said to have been the father of all mankind. 
But on this curious subject, respecting the variety of complexions 
see, toward the close of this volume, the remarks of Professor 
Mitchell, late of New- York. 



Respecting a division of the Earth, by JVoah, among his 

Sons. 

It cannot be denied but the whole earth, at the time the ark 
rested on mount Ararat, belonged to Noah, he being the prince, 
patriarch,[or head and ruler of his own family ; consequently, of 
all the inhabitants of the earth, as there were none but his own 
house. This is more than can be said of any other man since 
the world began, except of the man Adam. Accordingly, in the 
true character of a Patriarchal Prince, as related by Eusebius, 
an ecclesiastical writer of the fourth century, and by others, that 
Noah, being commanded of God, proceeded to make his willy di- 
viding the whole earth between his three sons, and their respec- 
tive heirs or descendants. 

To Shem he gave all the East; to Ham, all Africa ; to Japheth, 
the continent of Europe, with its isles, and the northern parts of 
Asia, as before pointed out. And may we not add America, 
which, in the course of Divine Providence, is now in the posses- 
sion of the posterity of Japheth, and it is not impossible but this 
quarter of the earth may have been known even to Noah, as we 
are led to suspect from the statement of Eusebius. 

This idea, or information, is brought forward by Adam Clarke, 
from whose commentary on the Scriptures, we have derived it. 
That a knowledge of not only Africa, Asia, and Europe, was in 
the possession of Noah, but even the islands of Europe, or how 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 2& 

could he have given them to the posterity of his son Japheth, as 
written by Eusebius. 

It may be questioned, possibly, whether these countries, at so 
early a period, had yet been explored, so as to furnish Noah with 
any degree of knowledge respecting them. To this it may be re- 
plied, that he lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood, 
and more than two hundred and fifty after the building of the 
tower of Babel and the dispersion of the first inhabitants, by 
means of the confusion of the ancient language. 

This was a lapse of time quite sufficient to have enabled ex- 
plorers to have traversed them, or even the whole earth, if com- 
panies had been sent out in different directions, for that express 
purpose, and to return again with their accounts to Noah. If the 
supposition of Adam Clarke, and others, be correct ; which is y 
that at that time the whole land of the globe was so situated that 
no continent was quite separate from the others by water, as they 
are now; so that men could traverse by land the whole globe at 
their will : if so, even America may have been known to the first 
nations, as well as other parts of the earth. 

This doctrine of the union of continents, is favored, or rather 
founded on a passage in the book of Genesis, 10th chap. 20th 
ver., where it is stated that one of the sons of Eber was Pe- 
leg, so named, because, in his days, the earth was divided ; the 
word Peleg, probably signifying division, in the Noetic lan- 
guage. 

The birth of Peleg was about an hundred years after the flood, 
the very time when Babel was built. But we do not imagine this 
great convulsionary division of the several quarters of the globe 
took place till perhaps an hundred years after the birth of Peleg, 
on account of the peculiar latitude of the expression, "in the 
days of Peleg. " Or, it may have been even two hundred years 
after the birth of Peleg, as this person's whole life was but two 
hundred and thirty-nine years; so that Noah over-lived him eleven 
years. 

"In the days of Peleg," therefore, may as well be argued to 
mean, near the close of his life, as at any other period ; this 
would give time for a very considerable knowledge of the earth's 
countries to have been obtained ; so that Noah could have made a 
judicious division of it among the posterity of his sons. 



26 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

This grand division of the earth, is supposed by some to have 
been only a 'political division ; but by others, a physical or geo 
graphical one. This latter opinion is favored by Adam Clarke. 
See his comment on the 25th verse of the 10th chapter of Gene- 
sis, as follows : — " A separation of continents and islands from 
the main land, the earthy parts having been united in one great 
continent, previous to the days of Peleg." But at this era, when 
men and animals had found their way to the several quarters of 
the earth, it seemed good to the Creator to break doivn those uni- 
ting portions of land, by bringing into action the winds, the bil- 
lows and subterranean fires, which soon, by their repeated and 
united forces, removed each isthmus, throwing them along the 
coasts of the several continents, and forming them into islands ; 
thus destroying, for wise purprses, those primeval highways of 
the nations. 



Supposed identity and real name of Melchisedec, of the 
Scriptures. 

This is indeed an interesting problem, the solution of which has 
perplexed its thousands ; most of whom suppose him to have been 
the Son of God, some angelic or mysterious supernatural person- 
age, rather than a mere man. This general opinion proceeds on 
the ground of the Scripture account of him, as commonly under- 
stood, being expressed as follows : — " Without father, without 
mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor 
end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest 
continually." — (Hebrews vii. 3.) 

But, without further circumlocution, we will at once disclose our 
opinion, by stating that we believe him to have been Shem, the 
eldest son of Noah, the progenitor of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and 
the Jews, and none other than Shem. 

We derive this conclusion from the research, and critical com- 
mentary of the learned and pious Adam Clarke, who gives us 
this information from the tradition of the Jewish Rabbins, which, 
without hesitation, gives this honor to Shem. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 27 

The particular part of that commentary to which we allude, as 
being the origin of our belief on this subject, is the preface of that 
author to the book of Job, on page 716, as follows: " Shem lived 
five hundred and two years after the deluge; being still alive, and 
in the three hnndred and ninety-third year of his life, when Abra- 
ham was born; therefore, the Jewish tradition, that Shem was the 
Melchisedec, or my righteous king of Salem," which word Mel- 
chisedec was " an epithet, or title of honor and respect, not a 
proper name; and, therefore, as the head and father of his race, 
Abraham paid tithes to him. This seems to be well founded, and 
the idea is confirmed by this remarkable language: (Psalms ex.) 
Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent or change, at tah cohen- 
leolam al dibarte Malkitsedek. As if he had said: Thou, my only 
begotten son, first born of many brethren, not according to the 
substituted priesthood of the sons of Levi, who, after the sin of the 
golden calf, stood up in lieu of all the first born of Israel, invested 
with their forfeited rights of primogeniture of king and priest: the 
Lord hath sworn and will not repent, (change.) Thou art a priest 
forever, after the (my order of Melchisedec, my own original 
primitive) order of primogeniture: even as Shem, the man of name 
the Shem that stands the first and foremost of the sons of Noah. 
The righteous Prince, and Priest of the Most High God, meets his 
descendant, Abraham, after the slaughter of the kings, with re- 
freshments^ and blessed him as the head and father of his race, 
the Jews in particular; and, as such, he received from Abraham, 
the tithe of all the spoil. 

How beautifully does Paul of Tarsus, writing to the Hebrews, 
point to Melchisedec, (or Shem, the head and father of their race,) 
invested in all the original rights of primogeniture, Priest of the 
Most High God, blessing Abraham as such, before Levi had ex- 
istence, and as such, receiving tithes from Abraham, and in him 
from Levi, yet in the loins of his forefathers : Moses, on this great 
and solemn occasion, records simply this: Melchisedec, king of 
Salem, Priest of the Most High God, sine genealogie; his pedigree 
not mentioned, but standing as Adam, in St. Luke's genealogy, 
without father and without mother, Adam ef God. — (Luke iii. 38.) 
How beautifully, I say, doth St. Paul point, through Melchisedec, 
to Jehoshua, our great High Priest and King, Jesus Christ, whose 
eternal generation who shall declare ! Ha Mashiach, the Lord's 



28 AMERICAN ANTIQQITIES 

anointed High Priest and King, after the order of Melchisedec; 
only begotten, first born son. 

Thus far for the preface on the subject of Melchisedec, show- 
ing that he was none other than Shem, the son of Noah. We 
shall now give the same author's views of the same supposed mys- 
terious character, Melchisedec, as found in his notes on the 7th 
Hebrews, commencing at the third verse. 

Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither 
beginning of days, nor end of life. " The object of the Apostle, 
in thus producing the example of Melchisedec, was to show, 1st, 
That Jesus was the person prophesied of in the 110th Psalm, 
which Psalm the Jews uniformly understood as predicting the 
Messiah. 2. To answer the objections of the Jews against the 
legitimacy of the priesthood of Christ, arising from the stock from 
which he proceeded. The objection is this : if the Messiah is a 
true priest, he must come from a legitimate stock, as all the priests 
under the law have regularly done; otherwise we cannot acknow- 
ledge him to be a priest. 

" But Jesus of Nazareth has not proceeded from such a stock; 
therefore we cannot acknowledge him for a priest, the antetype 
of Aaron. To this objection the Apostle answers, that it was not 
necessary for the priest to come from a particular stock; for Mel- 
chisedec was a priest of the Most High God, and yet was not of 
the stock either of Abraham (for Melchisedec was before Abra- 
ham,) or Aaron, but was a Gentile. 

"It is well known that the ancient Jews, or Hebrews, were ex- 
ceedingly scrupulous in choosing their high priest; partly by di- 
vine command, and partly from the tradition of their common 
ancestors, who always considered this office to be of the highest 
dignity. 1st. God commanded, (Leviticus xxi. 10,) that the high 
priest should be chosen from among their brethren; that is, from 
the family of Aaron. 2d. That he should marry a virgin. 3d. 
He must not marry a widow. 4th. Nor a divorced person. 5th. 
Jvfor a harlot. 6th. Nor one of another nation. He who was 
found to have acted contrary to these requisitions, was, jure &i- 
vino, excluded from the pontificate, or eligibility to hold that 
office. 

" On the contrary, it was necessary that he who desired this 
honor should be able to prove his descent from the family of 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 29 

Aaron; and if he could not, though even in the priesthood, he was 
cast out, as we find from Ezra ii. 62, and Nehemiah vii. 63. To 
these divine ordinances the Jews have added, 1st. That no prose- 
lyte could be a priest. 2d. Nor a slave. 3d. Nor a bastard. 
4th. Nor the son of a Nithinnim ; these were a class of men who 
were servants to the priests and Levites, (not of their tribe,) to 
draw water, and to hew wood. 5th. Nor one whose father exer- 
cised any base trade. 

"And that they might be well assured of all this, they took the 
utmost care to preserve their genealogies, which were regularly 
kept in the archives of the temple. When, if any person aspired 
to the sacerdotal function, his genealogical table was carefully in- 
spected, and if any of the above blemishes were found in him, he 
was rejected." 

But here the matter comes to a point as it respects our inquiry 
respecting Melchisedec's having no father or mother. 

"He who could not support his pretensions by just genealogical 
evidences, was said to be without father. Thus in Bereshiih Rabba, 
sec. xviii. fol. 18, are these words: For this cause shall a man 
leave father and mother. It is said, if a proselyte to the Jewish 
religion have married his own sister, whether by the same father 
or by the same mother, they cast her out, according to Rabbi Meir. 
But the wise men say, if she be of the same mother, they cast her 
out; but if of the same father, they retain her, shein ab la gai, 
for a Gentile has no father; that is, his father is not reckoned in 
the Jewish genealogies." 

In this way, both Christ and Melchisedec were without father 
and without mother, had neither beginning of days, descent of 
lineage, nor end of life in their books of genealogies, which gave 
a man a right to the priesthood, as derived from Aaron; that is, 
were not descended from the original Jewish sacerdotal stock; yet 
Melchisedec, who was a Gentile, was a priest of the Most High 
God. This sense Suidas* confirms, under the word Melchisedec, 
whei'e, after stating he reigned a prince in Salem, (that is, Jeru- 
salem,) 113 years, he died a righteous man. To this he adds: — 
"He is, therefore, said to be without descent or genealogy, because 

* Suidas, a Greek scholar of eminence, who flourished A. D. 975, and was 
an ecclesiastical writer of that age. 



30 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

he was not of the seed of Abraham, (for Abraham was his seed) 
but of Canaanitish origin." 

We think this sufficient to show the reason why he is said to 
have had no father or mother, beginning of days, nor end of life, 
as stated in Hebrews. But this is not said of him in the book of 
Genesis, where we first become acquainted with this truly won- 
derful character. 

It should be recollected that the Jewish geneal©gies went no 
farther back, for the qualifications of their priestly credentials, or 
eligibility to the pontifical office, than to the time and family of 
Aaron, which was more than four hundred years after that of 
Abraham and Melchisedec. No wonder, then, that Christ's gen- 
ealogy was not found in their records, so as to give him a claim 
to that office, such as they might approve. 

But inasmuch as Melchisedec was greater than Abraham, from 
whom the Jewish race immediately originated, he argues from the 
authority of the 110th Psalm, where Melchisedec is spoken of, 
which the Jews allowed to be spoken of Christ, or the Messiah, 
who was to come, and was, therefore, a priest after the order of 
that extraordinary Prince of Peace, and King of Salem; because, 
neither had he such a claim on the Jewish genealogies, as required 
by the Jews, so as to make him eligible to their priesthood, for 
they knew, or might have known, that Christ did not come of the 
Aaronic race, but of the line or tribe of Judah. 

That he was a man, a mere man, born of a woman, and came 
into the world after the ordinary manner, is attested by St. Paul's 
own extraordinary expression. (See Hebrews, vii. 4. J " Now 
consider how great this man was, unto whom Abraham gave the 
tenth of the spoils." However wonderfully elevated among men, 
and in the sight of God; however powerful and rich, wise, holy, 
and happy; he was, nevertheless, a mere man, or the tenth of the 
spoils he would not have received. 

But the question is, what man was he, and what was his name ? 
" Now consider how great this man was," are words which may 
possibly lead us to the same conclusion, which we have quoted 
from the preface of the book of Job. 

There are not wanting circumstances to elevate this man, on 
the supposition that he was Shem, in the scale of society, far 
above a common level with the rest of the inhabitants of his coun- 



AND DISCOVERIS IN THE WEST. 31 

try, of sufficient importance to justify St. Paul in saying, " now 
consider how great this man was." 

We shall recount some of the circumstances; and first, at the 
time he met Abraham, when he was returning from the slaughter 
of the kings who had carried away Lot, the half brother of Abra- 
ham, with all his goods, his wife and children, and blessed him; 
he was the oldest man then on the earth. This circumstance alone 
was of no small amount, and highly calculated to elevate Shem 
in the eyes of mankind; for he was then more than five hundred 
and fifty years old. 

Second : He was then the only man on the earth who had lived 
before the flood; and had been conversant with the nations, the 
institutions, the state of agriculture, arts and sciences, as under- 
stood and practised by the antediluvians. 

Third : He was tile only man who could tell them about the lo- 
3ation of the garden of Eden; a question, no doubt, of great cu- 
riosity and moment to those early nations, so near the flood; the 
manner in which the fall of Adam and Eve took place. He could 
tell them what sort of fruit it was, and how the tree looked on 
which it grew; and from Shem, it is more than probable, the 
Jews received the idea that the forbidden fruit was that of the 
grape vine, as found in their traditions. 

Shem could tell them what sort of serpent it was, whether an 
orang-outang, as believed by some, that the evil spirit made use 
of to deceive the woman; he could tell them about the former 
beauty of the earth, before it had become ruined by the commo- 
tion of the waters of the flood; the form and situation of coun- 
tries, and of the . extent and amount of human population. He 
could tell them how the nations who filled the earth with their vi- 
olence and rapine, used to go about the situation of the happy 
garden to which no man was allowed to approach nor enter, on 
account of the dreadful Cherubim and the flaming sword; and 
how they blasphemed against the judgments of the Most High on 
that account. 

Fourth : Shem could inform them about the progress of the 
ark, where it was built, and what opposition and ridicule his fa- 
ther Noah met with while it was building; he could speak respecting 
the violent manners of the antediluvians^ and what their peculiar 
aggravated sins chiefly consisted in — what God meant when he 



32 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

said, that " all flesh had corrupted its way before Him, 57 except 
the single family of Noah. There are those who imagine, from 
that peculiar phraseology, '■« all flesh hath corrupted its way on 
the earth," that the human form had become mingled with that of 
animals. If so, it was high time they were drowned, both man 
and beast, for reasons too obvious to need illustration here; it was 
high time that the soil was purged by water, and torn to frag- 
ments and buried beneath the earthy matter thrown up from depths 
not so polluted. 

It is not at all improbable but from this strange and most hor- 
rible practice, the first ideas of the ancient statuaries were derived 
of delineating sculpture which represents monsters, half human 
and half animal. This kind of sculpture, and also paintings, 
abounded among the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, as 
well as other nationsjof the early ages. Of these shapes were many 
of their gods; being half lion, half eagle, and half fish; accord- 
ing to the denomination of paganism who adored these images. 

Fifth : Shem was the only man in the days of Abraham, who 
could tell them of the promised Messiah, of whom he was the 
most glorious and expressive type afforded to men, before his 
coming, as attested by St. Paul. It is extremely probable, that 
with this man, Abraham had enjoyed long and close acquaintance, 
for he was descended of his loins, from whom he had the knowl- 
edge of the true God, in all probility, in the midst of his Chal- 
dean, idolatrous nation,, and learned the faith of Melchisedec. 
From the familiar manner with which Melchisedec, or Shem, 
who, we are compelled to believe, was indeed Melchisedec, met 
Abraham, and blessed him, in reference to the great Messiah, we 
are strongly inclined to believe them old acquaintance. 

Sixth : it appears that Shem, or Melchisedec, had gotten great 
passessions and influence among men, as he had become king of 
Salem, or ancient Jehus, where Jerusalem was afterward built, 
and were mount Zion reared her towers, and was the only tem- 
ple, in which the true God was understandingly worshipped, then 
on the earth. It is not impossible but the mountainous region 
about Mount Horeb, and the mountains round about Jerusalem, 
were, before the flood, the base or foundation of the country, and 
exact location of the region of the garden called Eden, the place 
where Adam was created. But when the waters of the deluge 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 33 

came, they tore away all the earthy matter, and left standing 
those tremendous pinnacles and overhanging mountains of the re- 
gion of Jerusalem and Mount Horeb. 

By examining the map on an artificial globe, it will be seen, 
the region of country situated between the eastern end of the Me- 
diterranean sea, the Black and Caspian seas, and the Persian 
gulf, the country now called Turkey, there are many rivers run- 
ning into these several waters, all heading toward each other; 
among which is the Euphrates, one of the rivers mentioned by 
Moses, as deriving its origin in the garden, or country of Eden. 
Mountainous countries are the natural sources of rivers. From 
which we argue that Eden must have been a high region of coun- 
try, as intimated in Genesis, entirely inaccessible on all sides, but 
the east ; at which point the sword of the Cherubim was placed 
to guard the way of the tree of life. Some have imagined the 
Persian gulf to be the spot where the garden was situated. But 
this is impossible, as that the river Euphrates runs into that gulf, 
from toward Jerusalem, or from north of Jerusalem. And as 
the regoin of Eden was the source of four large rivers, running 
in different directions, so also, now the region round about the 
present head waters of the Euphrates, is the source of many riv- 
ers, as said above; on which account, there can be but little doubt, 
but here the Paradise of Adam was situated, before the deluge, 
if the Euphrates is one of the rivers having its source in the 
garden or country of Eden, as Moses has recorded, it is then 
proved, to a demonstration, that the region as above described, is 
the ancient and primeval site of the literal Paradise of Adam. 

The latitude of this region is between 20 and 30 degrees north, 
and running through near the middle of this country, from east 
to west, is the range of mountains known by that of Mount Tau 
rus and Mount Ararat. So that we perceive this part of the 
globe is not only the ancient Eden, from where the human race 
sprang forth at first, but that also, it was renewed probably near 
the same spot, in the family of Noah, after the flood. 

Thus far we have treated on the subject of Melchisedec, show- 
ing reasons why he is supposed to have been Shem, the son of 
Noah, and reasons why St. Paul should say, *' Now consider how 
great this man was." We will only add, that the word Melchise- 
dec is not the name of that man so called, but is only a term, or 

3 



34 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

appellation, used in relation to him, by God himself, which is the 
same as to say, my righteous king. So that Melchisedec was not 
the name he received at his birth, but was Shem, as the Jews in- 
form us in their traditions. 



Division of the Earth in the days of Peleg, and of the spread- 
ing out of the nations, with other curious matter. 

But to return to the subject respecting the division of the 
earth in the days of Peleg. If, then, the division of the earth 
was a physical one, consequently such as had settled on its 
several parts before this division became forever separated, 
towards the four quarters of the globe. If this position be true, 
the mystery is at once unriddled, how men and animals are found 
on all the earth, not excepting the islands, however far removed 
from other lands by intervening seas. 

But of this matter we shall speak again towards the close 6f 
this work, when we hope to throw some degree of light upon this 
obscure, yet exceedingly interesting subject. 

We here take the opportunity to inform the reader, that as soon 
as we have given an account of the dispersion of the inhabitants 
of the earth, immediately after the flood, from whom sprang the 
several nations mentioned in sacred and profane ancient history, 
we shall then come to our main subject, namely, that of the anti- 
quities of America. 

In order to give an account of those nations, we follow the Com- 
mentary of Adam Clarke, on the 10th chapter of the Book of 
Genesis; which is the only book to which we can resort for in- 
formation of the kind; all other works which touch this point, are 
only illustrative and corroboratory. Even the boasted antiquity 
of the Chinese, going back millions of years, as often quoted by 
the sceptic, is found, when rightly understood, to come quite with- 
in the account given by Moses of the creation. 

This is asserted by Baron Humboldt, a historian of the first 
order, whose mind was embellished with a universal knowledge 
of the manners, customs, and traits of science, of the nations of 
the earth, rarely acquired by any man. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 35 

The Chinese account of their first knowledge of the oldest of 
their gods, shows their antiquity of origin to be no higher than the 
creation, as related in Genesis. Their Shastrus, a book which 
gives an account of the incarnation of the god Vishnoo, states, 
that his first incarnation was for the purpose of bringing up the 
Vedas, (sacred books) from the deep. This appearance of Vish- 
noo, they say, was in the form of a fish. The books, the fish, 
and the deep, are all derived from Noah, whose account of the 
creation has furnished the ground of this Chinese tradition. In 
his second incarnation, he took the newly created world on his 
back, as he assumed the form of a tortoise, to make it sta- 
ble. This alludes to the Mosaic account, which says, God sepa- 
rated the water from the dry land, and assigned them each their 
place. In his third incarnation he took the form of a wild boar, 
and drew the earth out of the sea, into which it had sunk during 
a periodical destruction of the world. This is a tradition of the 
deluge, and of the subsiding of the waters, when the tops of the 
mountains first appeared. A fourth incarnation of this god was 
for the rescue of a son, whose father was about to slay him. 
What else is this but the account of Abraham's going to slay his 
son Isaac, but was rescued by the appearance of an angel, for- 
bidding the transaction. In a fifth incarnation he destroyed a 
giant, who despised the gods, and committed violence in the earth. 
This giant was none other than Nimrod, the author of idolatry, 
the founder of Babel, who is called, even by the Jews, in their 
traditions, a giant. 

The inhabitants of the Tonga islands, in the South Pacific 
ocean, have a similar opinion respecting the first appearance of 
land, which evidently points to the flood of Noah 

They say, that at a certain time, the god Tangaloa, who was 
reputed to preside over arts and inventions, went forth to fish in 
the great ocean, and having from the sky let down his hook and 
line into the sea, on a sudden he felt that something had fastened 
to his hook, and believing he had caught an immense fish, he ex- 
erted all his strength, and presently thero appeared above the sur- 
face, several points of rocks and mountains, which increased in 
number and extent, the more he strained at his line to pull it up. 

It was now evident that his hook had fastened to the very bot- 
tom of the ocean, and that he was fast emerging a vast continent; 

3* 



36 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

when, unfortunately, the line broke, having brought up only the 
Tonga islands, which remain to this day. 

The story of this fishing god Tangaloa, we imagine is a very 
clear allusion to the summits of Ararat, which first appeared 
above the waters of the flood in Asia. 

•" Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, 
Ham and Japheth; and unto them were sons born after the flood." 
(Genesis x. 1, and onward.) 

The sons of Japheth : " Japheth is supposed to be the same 
with Japetus of the Greeks, from whom, in an extreme remote 
antiquity, that people were supposed to have derived their origin. 
On this point most chronologists are pretty well agreed. Gomer 
is supposed to have peopled Galatia; this was a son of Japheth. 
So Josephus, who says that the Galatians, (or French people, de- 
rived from the ancient Belgaic tribes,) were anciently named Go- 
merites. From him the Cimmerians, or Cimbrians, are supposed 
to have derived their origin. Bochart, a learned French protes- 
iant, born at Rouen, in Normandy, in the 16th century, has no 
doubt that the Phrygians sprung from this person; and some of 
our principal commentators are of this opinion. 

Madai, one of the sons of Japheth, is supposed to be the pro- 
genitor of the ancient Medas. J a van was another of his sons, 
from whom, it is almost universally believed, sprung the Ionians 
of Asia Minor. Tubal is supposed to be the father of the Iberi- 
ans, and that a part, at least of Spain was peopled by him and 
his descendant; and that Meschech, who is generally in Scripture 
joined with him, was the founder of the Cappadocians, from whom 
proceeded the Muscovites or Russians. 

Tiras. From this person, according to general consent, the 
Thracians derived their origin. 

Ashkenaz. From this person was derived the name Sacagena, 
a province of Armenia. Pliny, one of the most learned of the 
ancient Romans, who lived immediately after the commence ment 
of tho Christian era, mentions a people called Ascanticos, who 
dwelt about Tannis, or Palus Mceoticus; and some suppose, that 
from Ashkenaz the Euxine or Black sea derived its name; but 
others suppose, that from him the Germans derived their origin. 

Riphath The founder of the Paphlagnoians, which were an- 
ciently called Riphatoel 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 37 

Togarma. The inhabitants of Sauromates, or of Turcomania^ 

Elishah. As Javan peopled a considerable part of Greece, if 
is in that region we must look for the settlements of his descend- 
ants. Elishah probably was the first who settled at Elis, in Pe~ 
loponesus. 

Tarshis. He first inhabited Cilicia, whose capital, anciently* 
was the city of Tarsus, where St. Paul was born. 

Kittim. Some think by this name is meant Cyprus; others, 
the isle of Chios; others, the Romans; and others, the Macedo- 
nians. 

Dodanim, or Rhodanim. Some suppose, that this family set- 
tled at Dodana; others, at the Rhone in France; the ancient name 
of which was Rhodanus, from the Scripture Rhodanim : — " By 
these, were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands.'* 
Europe, of which this is allowed to be a general epithet, and' 
comprehends all those countries to which the Hebrews were 
obliged to go by sea; such as Spain, Gaul or France, Italy,, 
Greece, and Asia Minor. 

Thus far we have noticed the spreading out over many coun- 
tries, and the origin of many nations, arising out or from Japhsth,. 
one of the sons of Noah; all of whom were white, or at least 
come under that class of complexions 

The descendants of Ham, another of the sons of Noah, and 
some of the nations springing from him, we shall next bring to 
view. 

Cush, who peopled the Arabic nome, or province, near the Red 
sea, in Lower Egypt. Some think the Ethiopians sprung from hira 

Mizraim. This family certainly peopled Egypt; and both irs 
the east and west Egypt is called Mizraim. 

Phut. Who first peopled an Egyptian nome, or district, bor- 
dering on Lybia. 

Canaan. He who first peopled the land so called; known also 
by the name of the Promised Land. These were the nations 
which the Jews, who descended from Shem, cast out from the 
land of Canaan, as directed by God, because of the enormity and 
brutal nature of their crimes; which were such as no man of the 
present age, blessed with Christian a education, would excuse on a 
jury, under the terrors of an oath, from the punishment of death. 
They practised, as did the antediluvians and Sodomites, those 



38 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

things which were calculated to mingle the human with the brute. 
Surely, when this is understood, no man, not even a disbeliever in 
the inspiration of the Bible, will blame Moses lor his seeming 
severity, in cutting off those nations with the besom of entire ex- 
termination. 

"Seba. The founder of the Sabeans. There seems to be 
three different people of this name, mentioned in the tenth 
chapter of Genesis, and a fourth in the twentyrfifth chapter of 
the same book." The queen of Sheba was of this race, who 
came, as it is said, from the uttermost parts of the earth, to Jeru- 
salem, to know the wisdom of Solomon and the Hebrew religion; 
she was therefore, being a descendant of Ham's posterity, a black 
woman. 

Havillah, Sabtah, Ramah, Sabtechah, Sheba, Dedan. These 
are names belonging to the race of Ham, but the nations to whom 
they gave rise, is not interesting to our subject. 

Nimrod, however, should not be omitted, who was of the race 
of Ham, and was his grandson. Of whom it is said, he was a 
mighty hunter before the Lord: meaning not only his skill and 
courage, and amazing strength and ferocity, in the destruction of 
wild animals, which infested the vast wilds of the earth at that 
time, but a destroyer of men's lives, and the originator of idolatry. 

It was this Nimrod who opposed the righteous Melchisedec; 
and taught, or rather compelled, men to forsake the religion of 
Shem, or Melchisedec, and to follow the institutes of Nimrod. 

"The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Acad, and 
Calneh, in the land of Shinar. — (Genesis x. 10.) 

The tower of Babel and the city of Babylon were both built on 
the Euphrates. Babel, however, was first built by Nimrod's 
agency, whose influence, it appears, arose much from the fierce- 
ness of his disposition, and from his stature and great muscular 
powers; qualifications which, in every age, have been revered. 
The Septuagint version of the Scriptures speaks of Nimrod as 
being a surly giant. This was a colored man, and the first mo- 
narch of the human race since the flood. 

But whether monarchical or republican forms of government 
obtained before the flood is uncertain : — Probability would seem 
to favor neither; but rather that the patriarchal government suc- 
ceeded, as every father, to the fourth and fifth generation, must 
have been, in those days, the natural king or chief of his clan. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN WEST. 39 

These, after a while, spreading abroad, would clash with each 
-other's interest, whence petty wars would arise, till many tribes 
being, by the fortune of war, weakened, that which had been most 
fortunate, would at once seize upon a wider empire : — Hence 
monarchies arose. But whether it so fell out before the flood, 
cannot now be ascertained. A state^ however, of fearful anar- 
chy seems to be alluded to in the Scriptures; where it is said, 
that the earth was "filled with violence." This, however, was 
near the time of the flood. 

Popular forms of government, or those called republican or de- 
mocratical, had their origin when a number of distant tribes or 
clans invaved a district or country so situated as that the interests 
of different tribes were naturally somewhat blended; these, in or- 
der to repel a distant or strange enemy's encroachments, would 
naturally unite ander their respective chiefs or patriarchs. Ex- 
perience would soon show the advantage of union. Hence arose 
republics. 

The grand confederacy of the five nations, which took place 
among the American Indians, before their acquaintance with 
white men, shows that such even among the most savage of our 
race, may have often thus united their strength — out of which 
civilization has sometimes, as well as monarchies and republics, 
arisen. 

Since the flood, however, it is found that the descendants of 
Japheth originated the popular forms of government in the earth; 
as among the Greeks, the Romans, and more perfectly among 
the Americans, who are the descendants of Japheth. 

We shall omit an account of the nations arising out of the de- 
scendants of Shem, (for we need not mention the Jews, of whom 
all men know they descended from him;) for the same reasons 
assigned for the omission of a part of the posterity of Ham, be- 
cause they chiefly settled in those regions of Asia, too remote to 
answer our subject any valuable purpose. 

" In confirmation, however, that all men have been derived 
from one fjamily, let it be observed, that there are many usages, 
both sacred and civil, which have prevailed in all parts of the 
world, which could owe their origin to nothing but a general 
institution, which could not have existed, had not mankind been 
of the same blood originally, and instructed in the same common 



40 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

notions before they were dispersed" from the mountains of Ara- 
rat, and the family of Noah. Traits of this description, which 
argue to this conclusion, will in the course of this work, be made 
to appear; which to such as believe the Bible, will afford peculiar 
pleasure and surprise. 



Antiquities of the West. 

There are no parts of the kingdoms or countries of the old 
world, but have celebrated in poetry and sober history, the mighty 
relics and antiquities of ancient empires, as Rome, Babylon,. 
Greece. Egypt, Hindostan, Tartary, Africa, China, Persia, Eu- 
rope, Russia, and many of the islaadof the sea. It yet remains 
for America to awake her story from its oblivious sleep, and tell 
the tale of her antiquities — the traits of nations, coeval, perhaps, 
■ with the eldest works of man this side the flood. 

This curious subject, although it is obscured beneath the gloom 
of past ages, of which but small record remains; beside that 
which is written In the dust, in the form of mighty mounds, tu- 
muli, strange skeletons, and aboriginal fortifications; and in some 
few instances, the bodies of preserved persons, as sometimes 
found in the nitrous caves of Kentucky, and the west, yet affords 
abundant premises to prompt investigation and rational conjecture. 
The mounds and tumuli of the west, are to be ranked among the 
most wonderful antiquities of the world, on the account of their 
number, magnitude, and obscurity of origin. 

" They generally are found on fertile bottoms and near the 
rivers. Several hundreds have been discovered along the valley 
of the Mississippi; the largest of which stands not far from 
Wheeling, on the Ohio. This mound is fifty rods in circumfer- 
ence, and ninety feet in perpendicular height." 

This is found filled with thousands of human skeletons, and 
was doubtless a place of general deposite of the dead for ages; 
which must have been contiguous to some lage city, where the- 
dead were placed in gradation, one layer above another, till it 
reached a natural climax, agreeing with the slope commenced at 
its base or foundation. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 41 

It is not credible, that this mound was made by the ancestors of 
the modern Indians. Its magnitude, and the vast numbers of 
dead deposited there, denote a population too great to have been 
supported by mere fishing and hunting, as the manner of Indians 
has always been. A population sufficient to raise such a mound 
as this, of earth, by the gradual interment of the deceased inha- 
tants, would necessarily be too far spread, to make it convenient 
for the living to transport their dead to one single place of reposi- 
tory. The modern Indians have ever been known, since the 
acquaintance of white men with them, to live only in small towns; 
which refutes the idea of its having been made by any other peo- 
ple than such as differed exceedingly from the improvident and in- 
dolent native; and must, therefore, have been erected by a people 
more ancient than the Indian aborigines, or wandering tribes. 

" Some of these mounds have been opened, when, not only 
vast quantities of human bones have been found, but also instru- 
ments of warfare, broken earthen vases, and trinkets. From the 
trees growing on them, it is supposed, they have already existed 
at least six hundred years; and whether these trees were the first, 
second or third crop, is unknown; if the second only, which, from 
the old and decayed timber, partly buried in the vegetable mould 
and leaves, seems to favor; then it is all of twelve hundred years 
since they were abandoned, if not more. 

Foreign travellers complain, that America presents nothing 
like ruins within her boundaries; no ivy mantled towers, nor moss 
covered turrets, as in the other quarters of the earth. Old Fort 
Warren, on the Hudson, rearing its lofty decayed sides high 
above West Point; and the venerable remains of two wars,at Ti- 
conderoga, upon Lake Champlain, they say, afford something of 
the kind. But what are mouldering castles, falling turrets, or 
crumbling abbeys, in comparison with those ancient and artificial 
aboriginal hills, which have outlived generations, and even all 
tradition; the workmanship of altogether unknown hands. 

Place these monuments and secret repositories of the dead, to- 
gether with the innumerable mounds and monstrous fortifications^ 
which are scattered over America, in England, and on the conti- 
nent of Europe, how would their virtuosi examine, and their an- 
tiquarians fill volumes with their probable histories. How would 
their fame be conveyed from learned bodies, and through literary 



42 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

-volumes, inquiring who were the builders, of what age of the 
world, whence came they, and their descendants; if any, what 
has become of them; these would be the themes of constant spe- 
culation and inquiry. 

At Marietta, a place not only celebrated as being the first set- 
tlement on the Ohio, but has also acquired much celebrity, from 
the existence of those extensive and supposed fortifications, which 
are situated near the town. They consist of walls and mounds 
of earth, running in straight lines, from six to ten feet high, and 
nearly forty broad at their base; but originally must have been 
much higher. There is also, at this place, one fort of this an- 
cient description, which encloses nearly fifty acres of land. 

There are openings in this fortification, which are supposed to 
have been, when thronged with its own busy multitude, " used as 
gateways, with a passage from one of them, formed by two pa- 
rallel walls of earth, leading towards the river." 

This contrivance was undoubtedly for a defence against surprise 
by an enemy, while the inhabitants dwelling within should fetch 
water from the river, or descend thither to wash, as in the Gan- 
ges, among the Hindoos. Also the greatness of this fort is evi^- 
dence, not only of the power of its builders, but also of those they 
feared. Who can tell but that they have, by intestine feuds and 
wars, exterminated themselves % Such instances are not unfre- 
quent among petty tribes of the earth. Witness the war between 
Benjamin and his brother tribes, when but a mere handful of 
their number remained to redeem them from complete annihila- 
tion. Many nations, an account of whom as once existing, is 
found on the page of history, now have not a trace left behind. 
More than sixty tribes which once traversed the woods of the west, 
and who were known to the first settlers of the New-England 
states, are now extinct. 

The French of the Mississippi have an account, that an exter- 
minating battle was fought in the beginning of the 17th century, 
about two hundred and thirty years ago, on the ground where 
Fort Harrison now stands; between the Indians living on the Mis- 
sissippi, and those of the Wabash. The bone of contention was, 
the lands lying between those rivers, which both parties claimed. 
There were about 1000 warriors on each oide. The condition of 
the fight was, that the victors should possess the lands in dispute. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 



43 



The grandeur of the prize was peculiarly calculated to inflame the 
ardor of savage minds. The contest cemmenced about sunrise. 
Both parties fought desperately. The Wabash warriors came off 
conquerors, having seven men left alive at sunset, and their ad- 
versaries, the Mississippians, but Jive. This battle was fought 
nearly fifty years before their acquaintance with white men." — 
Webster's Gazetteer, 1817, p. 69. 

Also the ancient Eries, once inhabiting about Lake Erie, and 
gave name to that body of water ; were exterminated by their 
enemies, another tribe of Indians — so far as that but one member 
of that nation, a warrior, remained. 

It is possible, whoever the authors of these great works were, 
or however long they may have lived on the continent, that they 
may have, in the same way, by intestine feuds and wars, weak- 
ened themselves, so that when the Tartars, Scythians, and de- 
scendants of the ten lost tribes, came across the straits of Bhering, 
that they fell an easy prey to those fierce and savage northern 
hordes. 

It is not likely that the vast warlike preparations which extend 
over the whole continent, south of certain places in Canada, were 
thrown up all of a sudden, on a first discovery of a strange enemy; 
for it might be inquired, how should they know such a mode of 
defence, unless they had acquired it in the course of ages, arising 
from necessity, and were constructed to defend against the inva- 
sions of each other? — being of various origin and separate inte- 
rests,, as was much the situation of the ancient nations, in every 
part of the world. 

Petty tribes of the same origin, over the whole earth, have been 
found to wage perpetual war against each other, from motives of 
avarice, power, or hatred. In the most ancient eras of the history 
of man, little walled towns, which were raised for the security of 
a few families, under a chief, king, or patriarch, are known to 
have existed; which is evidence of the disjointed and unharmoni- 
ous state of human society; out of which, wars, rapine and plun- 
der arose. Such may have been the state of man in America, 
before the Indians found their way here; the evidence of which, 
is the innumerable fortifications, found every where in the western 
regions. 

Within this fort, of which we have been speaking, found at 



44 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Marietta, are elevated squares, situated at the corners, one hun- 
dred and eighty ket long, by one hundred and thirty broad, nine 
feet high, and level on the top. On these squares, erected at the 
corners of this great enclosure, were doubtless placed some modes 
of annoyance to a besieging enemy; such as engines to sling stones 
with, or to throw the dart and spear, or whatever might have been 
their modes of defence. 

Outside of this fort, is a mound, differing in form from their 
general configuration: its shape is that of a s\jgar loaf, the base 
of which is more than a hundred feet in circumference; its height 
thirty, encompassed by a ditch, and defended by a parapet, or 
wall beyond the ditch, about breast high, through which is a way 
toward the main fort. Human bones have been taken from many 
of these mounds, and charcoal, with fragments of pottery; in one 
place,, a skeleton of a man, buried east and west, after the manner 
of enlightened nations, was found, as if they understood the car- 
dinal points of the compass. On the breast of this skeleton was 
found a quantity of isinglass, a substance considered sacred by 
the Mexicans, and adored as a deity. 



Ruins of a Roman Fort at Marietta. 

But, respecting this fort, as above, we imagine that even the 
Romans may have built it, however strange this may appear. The 
reader will be so kind as to have patience, till we have advanced 
all our reasons for this strange conjecture, before he casts it from 
him as impossible. 

Our reasons for this idea arise out of the great similarity there 
is between its form and fortifications, and camps, built by the an- 
cient Romans. And in order to show the similarity, we have quo- 
ted the account of the forms of Roman camps, from Josephus's 
description of their military works. See his works, Book v. chap. 
5, page 219, as follows: 

" Nor can their enemies easily surprise them with the sudden- 
ness of their incursions, for as soon as they have marched into an 
enemy's land, they do not begin to fight till they have walled their 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 45 

camp about; nor is the fence they raise rashly made, or uneven; 
nor do they all abide in it; nor do those that are in it take their 
place at random: but if it happens that the ground is uneven, it is 
first levelled." 

" Their camps are also four square by measure; as for what 
space is within the camp, it is set apart for tents, but the outward 
circumference hath the resemblance to a wall; and is adorned 
with towers at equal distances, where, between the towers, stand 
the engines for throwing arrows and darts, and for slinging stones, 
where they lay all other engines that can annoy the enemy, ready 
for their several operations. 

" They also erect four gates, one in the middle of each side of 
the circumference, or square, and those large enough for the en- 
trance of beasts, and wide enough for making excursions, if oc- 
casion should require. They divide the camp within into streets, 
very conveniently, and place the tents of the commanders in the 
middle; in the very midst of all, is the general's own tent, in the 
nature and form of a temple, insomuch that it appears to be a city 
built on the sudden, with its market place, and places for handi- 
craft trades, and with seats for the officers, superior and inferior, 
where, if any differences arise, their causes are heard and de- 
termined. 

" The camp, and all that is in it, is encompassed with a wall 
round about, and that sooner than one would imagine, and this by 
the multitude and skill of the laborers. And if occasion require, 
a trench is drawn round the whole, whose depth is four cubits, 
and its breadth equal," which is a trifle more than six feet in depth 
and width. 

The similarity between the Roman camps and the one near 
Marietta, consists as follows: they are both four square; the one 
standing near the great fort, and is connected byjtwo parallel 
walls, as described; has also a ditch surrounding it, as the Ro- 
mans sometimes encircled theirs; and, doubtless, when first con- 
structed, had a fence of timber (as Josephus says the Romans 
had,) all around it, and all other forts of that description; but time 
has destroyed them. 

If the Roman camp had its elevated squares at its corners, for 
the purposes of overlooking the foe, and of shooting stones, darts 
and arrows; so had the fort at Marietta, of more than a hundred 



46 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

feet square, on an average, of their forms, and nine feet high. Its 
parapets and gateways are similar; also the probable extent of the 
Roman encampments agrees well with the one at Marietta, which 
embraces near fifty acres within its enclosure; a space sufficient to 
have contained a great army; with streets and elevated squares at 
its corners, like the Romans. Dr. Morse, the geographer, says, 
the war camps of the ancient Danes, Belgse and Saxons, as found 
in England, were universally of the circular, while those of the 
Romans, in the same country, are distinguished by the square form; 
is not this, therefore, a trait of the same people's work in America 
as in England? 

Who can tell but during the four hundred years the Romans had 
all the west of Europe attached to their empire, but they may have 
found their way to America, as well as other nations, the Welch 
and Scandinavians, in after ages, as we shall show before we end 
the volume. 

Rome, it must be remembered, was mistress of the known 
world, as they supposed, and were in the possession of the arts and 
sciences; with a knowledge of navigation, sufficient to traverse 
the oceans of the globe, even without the compass, by means of 
the stars by night, and the sun by day. 

The history of England informs us, that as early as fifty-five 
years before the Christian era, the Romans invaded the island of 
Britain, and that their ships were so large and heavy, and drew 
such a depth of water, that their soldiers were obliged to leap into 
the sea and fight their way to the shore, struggling with the waves 
and the enemy, both at once, because they could not bring their 
vessels near the shore, on account of their size. 

North America has not yet been peopled from Europe so long, 
by two hundred years, as the Romans were in possession of the 
island of Britain. Now, what has not America effected in enter- 
prise, during this time? And although her advantages are supe- 
rior to those of the Romans, when they held England as a pro- 
vince, yet we are not to suppose they were idle, especially when 
their character, at that ' time, was a martial and a maritime one. 
In this character, therefore, were they not exactly fitted to make 
discoveries about in the northern and western parts of the Atlan- 
tic, and may, therefore, have found America; made partial set- 
tlements in various places; coasted along down the shores of this 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 47 

country, found the mouth of the Mississippi, and thence up that 
stream, making here and there a settlement? This supposition is 
as natural, and as possible for the Romans to have done, as that 
Hudson should find the mouth of the North river, and explore it 
as far north as to where the city of Albany is now standing. It 
was equally in their power to have found this coast by chance, as 
the Scandinavians in the year 1000, or thereabouts, who made a 
settlement at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. But more of this 
in due time. 

To show that the Romans did actually go on voyages of discovery \ 
while in possession of Britain, we quote from the history of En- 
gland, that when Julius Agricola was governor of South Britain, 
he sailed quite round it, and ascertained it to be an island. 

This was about one hundred years after their first subduing the 
country, or fifty-two years after Christ. 

But they may have had a knowledge of the existence of Ame- 
rica, prior to their invasion of Britain. And lest the reader may 
be alarmed at such a position, we hasten to show in what manner 
they might have obtained it, by relating a late discovery of a 
pJanter in South America. 

" In the month of December, 1827, a planter discovered in a 
field, a short distance from Mont-Video, a sort of tomb-stone, 
upon which strange, and to him unknown, signs or characters 
were engraved. He caused this stone, which covered a small 
excavation, formed with masonry, to be raised; when he found 
two exceedingly ancient swords, a helmet and shield, which had 
suffered much from rust ; also, an earthen vessel of large capa- 
city." 

The planter caused the swords, the helmet and earthen amphora, 
together with the stone slab, which covered the whole, to be re- 
moved to Mont-Video, where, in spite of the effect of time, Greek 
words were easily made out, which, when translated, read as fol- 
lows: — "During the dominion of Alexander, the son of Philip, 
king of Macedon, in the sixty-third Olympiad, Ptolemaios" — it 
was impossible to decipher the rest, on account of the ravages of 
time on the engraving of the stone. 

On the handle of one of the swords was the portrait of a man, 
supposed to be Alexander the Great On the helmet there is 
sculptured work, that must have been executed by the most exqui- 



48 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

tsite skill, representing Achilles dragging the corpse of Hector 
round the walls of Troy; an account of which is familiar to every 
classic scholar. 

This discovery was .similar to the Fabula Heica, the bas-relief 
stucco, found in the ruins of the Via Appia, at Fratachio, in Spain, 
belonging to the princess of Colona, which represented all the 
principal scenes in the Iliad and Odyssey. 

From this it is quite clear, says the editor of the Cabinet of In- 
struction and Literature, from which we have extracted this ac- 
count, vol. 3, p. 99, that the discovery of this monumental altar 
is proof that a cotemporary of Aristotle, one of the Greek phi- 
losophers, has dug up the soil of Brazil and La Plata, in South 
America. 

It is conjectured that this Ptolemaios, mentioned on the stone, 
was the commander of Alexander's fleet, which is supposed to 
have been overtaken by a storm at sea, in the great ocean, (the 
Atlantic) as the ancients called it, and were driven on to the coast 
of Brazil, or the South American coast, where they doubtless 
erected the above mentioned monument, to preserve the memory 
of the voyage to so distant a country; arid that it might not be 
lost to the world, if any in after ages mignt chance to find it, as 
at last it was permitted to be, in the progress of events. 

The above conjecture, however, that Ptolemaios, a name found 
engraved on the stone slab which covered the mason work, as be- 
fore mentioned, was one of Alexander's admirals, is not well 
founded, as there is no mention of such an admiral in the em- 
ploy of that emperor, found on the page of the history of those 
times. 

But the names of Nearchus and Onesicritus are mentioned, as 
being admirals of the fleets of Alexander the Great; and the name 
of Pytheas, who lived at the same time, is mentioned, as being a 
Greek philosopher, geographer and astronomer, as well as a voy- 
ager, if not an admiral, as he made several voyages into the great 
Atlantic ocean; which are mentioned by Eratosthenes, a Greek 
philosopher, mathematician and historian, who flourished two hun- 
dred years before Christ. 

Strabo, a celebrated geographer and voyager, who lived about 
the time of the commencement of the Christian era, speaks of the 
voyages of Pytheas, by way of admission, and says that his know- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 49 

ledge of Spain, Gaul, Germany and Britain, and all the countries 
of the north of Europe was extremely limited. He had, indeed, 
voyaged along the coasts of those countries, but had obtained but 
an indistinct knowledge of their relative situations. 

During the adventures of this man at sea, for the very purpose 
of ascertaining the geography of the earth, by tracing the coasts 
of countries, there was a great liability of his being driven off in 
a western direction, not only by the current which sets always 
towards America, but also by the trade winds, which blow in the 
same direction for several months in the year. 

Pytheas, therefore, with his fleet, it is most probable, either by 
design or storms, is the man who visited the American coast, and 
caused this subterranean monument of masonry to be erected The 
Ptolemaios, or Ptolemy, mentioned on the stone, may refer to one 
of the four generals of Alexander, called sometimes Ptolemy La- 
gus, or Soter. This is the man who had Egypt for his share of 
the conquests of Alexander; and it is likely the mention of his 
name on the stone, in connection with that of Alexander, was caus- 
ed either by his presence at the time the stone was prepared, or 
because he patronised the voyages and geographical researches of 
the philosopher and navigator, Pytheas. 

Alexander the Great flourished about three hundred years be- 
fore Christ; he was a Grecian, the origin of whose nation is said 
to have been Japetus, a descendant of Japheth, one of the sons of 
Noah, as before shown. 

Let it be observed, the kingdom of Macedon, of which Alex- 
ander was the last, as well as the greatest of its kings, com- 
menced eight hundred and fourteen years before^Christ, which 
was sixty-one years earlier than the commencement of the Ro- 
dmans. 

But, what is to be learned from this story about the Greeks, re- 
specting any knowledge in possession of the Romans about a con- 
tinent west of Europe? Simply this, that an account of this voy- 
age, whether it was an accidental one, or a voyage of discovery, 
could not but be known to the Romans, as well as to the Greeks, 
and entered on the records of the nation on their return. But 
where, then, is the record ? We must go to the flames of the Goths 
and Vandals, who overran the Roman empire, in which accounts 
.of the discoveries of countries. and the histories of antiquity were 

4 



50 AMFRICAN ANTIQUITIES 

destroyed; casting over those regions which they subdued, the- 
gloom of barbarous ignorance, congenial with the shades of the 
forests of the north, from whence they originated: on which ac- 
count, countries, and the knowledge of many arts anciently known, 
were to be discovered over again; and among them, it is believed, 
was America. 

When Columbus discovered this country, and had returned to* 
Spain, it was soon known to all Europe. The same we may sup- 
pose of the discovery of the same country by the Greeks, though 
with infinitely less publicity; because the world at the time had 
not the advantage of printing; yet, in some degree, the discovery 
must have been known, especially among the great men of both 
Greeks and Romans. 

The Grecian or^Macedonian kingdom, after the death of Alex- 
ander, maintained its existence but a short time, one hundred and 
forty-four years only; when the Romans defeated Perseus, which 
ended the Macedonian kingdom, one hundred and sixty-eight years 
before Christ. 

At this time, and thereafter, the Romans held on their course of 
war and conquest, till four hundred and ten years after Christ,— 
amounting in all, from their beginning, till Rome was taken and 
plundered by^Alaric, king of the| Visigoths, to one thousand, one 
hundred and sixty-three years. 

Is it to be supposed, |the Romans, a warlike, enlightened, and 
enterprising people, |who r ' had found their way by sea so far north 
irom Rome as to the island of Britain, and actually sailed round 
it, would not explorejfarther north and west, especially as they 
had some hundred years opportunity, while in possession of the 
north of Europe? 

Morse, the geographer, in his second volume, page 126,. 
says: — Ireland, which is situated west of England, was probably 
discovered by the Phoenicians; the era of whose voyages and 
maritime exploits commenced more than fourteen hundred years 
before Christ, and continued several ages. Their country was 
situated at the east end of the Mediterranean sea; so that a voy- 
age to the Atlantic, through^ the strait of Gibraltar west, would 
be a distance of about two thousand and three hundred miles,, 
and from Gibraltar to Ireland, a voyage of about one thousand 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 51 

and four hundred miles; which, in the whole amount, is near four 
thousand. 

Ireland is farther north, by about five degrees, than Newfound- 
land, and the latter only about eighteen hundred miles southwest 
from Ireland; so that while the Phoenicians were coasting and 
voyaging about in the Atlantic, in so high a northern latitude as 
Ireland and England, may well be supposed to have discovered 
Newfoundland, (either by being lost or driven there by storm,) 
which is very near the coast of America. Phoenician letters are 
said to be engraven on some rocks on Taunton river, near the 
sea, in Massachusetts; if so, this is proof of the position. 

Some hundreds of years after the first historical notice of the 
Phoenician voyages, and two hundred years before the birth of 
Christ, the Geeks, it is said, became acquainted with Ireland 
and was known among them by the name of Juverna. Ptolemy, 
the Egyptian geographer, who flourished about one hundred years 
after Christ, has given a map of that island, which is said to be 
very correct. — (Morse.) 

Here we have satisfactory historical evidence, that Ireland, as 
well, of course, as all the coast of northern Europe, with the very 
islands adjacent, were known; first, to the Phoenicians; second, 
to the Greeks; third, to the Romans; and, fourth, to the Egyp- 
tians — in those early ages, from which arises a great probability 
.that America may have been well known to the ancient nations of 
the old world. On which account, when the Romans had extend- 
ed their conquests so far north as nearly to old Norway, in latitude 
60 degrees, over the greater part of Europe; they were well pre- 
pared to explore the North Atlantic, in a western direction, in 
quest of new countries; having already sufficient data to believe 
western countries existed. 

It is not impossible but the Danes, Norwegians and Welsh may 
have at first obtained some knowledge of western lands, islands and 
territories, from the discoveries of the Romans, or from their 
opinions, and handed down the story, till the Scandinavians or 
Norwegians discovered Iceland, Greenland and America, many 
hundred years before the time of Columbus. 

But, however this may be, it is certain those nations of the 
north of Europe did visit this country, as we have promised to 
show in its proper place. Would Columbus have made this at- 

4* 



52 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

tempt, if he had not believed, or conjectured, there was a western 
continent; or by some means obtained hints respecting it, or the 
probability of its existence? It is said, Columbus found, at a cer- 
tain time, the corpses of two men of a tawny complexion, floating 
in the sea, near the coast of Spain, which he knew were not of 
European origin, but had been driven by the sea from some un- 
known western country; also, timber and branches of trees, all of 
which confirmed him in his opinion of the existence of other coun- 
tries westward. 

If the Romans may have found this country, they may also have 
attempted its colonization, as the immense square forts of the west 
would seem to suggest. 

In 1821, on the bank of the river Desperes, in Missouri, was 
found, by an Indian, a Roman coin, and presented to Gov. Clarke. 
This is no more singular than the discovery of a Persian coin near 
a spring on the Ohio, some feet under ground; as we have shown 
in another place of this work — all of which go to encourage the 
conjecture respecting the presence of the ancient Romans in Ame- 
rica. The remains of former dwellings, found along the Ohio, 
where the stream has, in many places, washed away its banks, 
hearths andjire places are brought to light, from two to six feet 
below the surface. 

Near these remains, are found immense quantities of muscle 
shells and bones of animals. From the depths of many of these 
remnants of chimnies, and from the fact that trees as large as any 
in the surrounding forest, were found growing on the ground above 
those fire places, at the time the country was first settled by its 
present inhabitants, the conclusion is drawn that a very long pe- 
riod has elapsed since these subterraneous remnanta of the dwel- 
lings of man were deserted. 

Hearths and fire places. — Are not these evidences that build- 
ings once towered above them? If not such as now acommodate 
the millions of America, yet they may have been such as the an- 
cient Britons used at the time the Romans first invaded their 
country. 

These were formed of logs set up endwise, drawn in at the 
top, so that the smoke might pass out at an aperture left open 
at the summit. They were not square on the ground, as houses 
are now built, but set in a. circle, one log against the other, 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 53 

with the hearth and fire place in the centre. At the opening in 
the top, where the smoke went out, the light came in, as no 
other window was then used. There are still remaining, in 
several parts of England, the vestiges of large stone buildings, 
made in this way; that is, in a circle. — ( Blair 's History of Eng- 
land, p. 8.) 

At Cincinnati, there are two museums, one of which contains 
a great variety of western antiquities, many skulls of Indians, and 
more than a hundred remains of what has been dug out of the 
aboriginal mounds. The most strange and curious of all, is a cup, 
made of clay, with three faces on the sides of the cup, each pre- 
senting regular features of a man, and beautifully delineated. It 
is the same represented on the plate. — (See letter E.) 

A great deal has been said, and not a little written, by antiqua- 
rians about this cup. It was found in one of those mysterious 
mounds, and is known by the name of the triune cup. 

In this neighborhood, the Yellow Springs, a day's ride below 
Cincinnati, stands one of 4hose singular mounds. Whenever we 
view those most singular objects of curiosity, and remains of art, a 
thousand inquiries spring up in the mind. They have excited the 
wonder of all who have seen or heard of them. Who were those 
ancients of the west, and when, and for what purpose these mounds 
were constructed, are questions of the most interesting nature, and 
have engaged the researches of the most inquisitive antiquarians. 
Abundant evidence, however, can be procured, that they are not 
of Indian origin. 

With this sentiment there is a general acquiescence; however, 
we think it proper, in this place, to quote Dr. Beck's remarks on 
this point, from his Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Mis- 
souri. (See page 308. J 

" Ancient works exist on this river, the Arkansas, as elsewhere,. 
The remains of mounds and fortifications are almost every where 
to be seen. One of the largest mounds in this country has been 
thrown up on this stream, (the Wabash,) within the last thirty or 
forty years, by the Osages, near the great Osage village, in honor 
of one of their deceased chiefs. This fact proves conclusively 
the original object of these mounds, and refutes the theory that 
they must necessarily have been erected by a race of men more 
civilized than the present tribes of Indians. Were it necessary, 



54 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

(says Dr. Beck,) numerous other facts might be adduced to prove, 
that the mounds are no other than the tombs of their great men." 

Thatthis is one of their uses there is no doubt, but not their ex- 
clusive use. The vast heighth of one of them, which is more than 
a hundred feet, would seem to point them out as places of lookout, 
which, if the country in the days when their builders flourished, 
was cleared and cultivated, would overlook the country to a great 
distance; and if it were not, still their towering summits would 
surmount even the interference of the forests. 

But although the Osage Indians have so recently thrown up one 
such mound, yet it does not prove them to be of American Indian 
origin; and as this is an isolated case, would rather argue that 
the Osage tribe have originally descended from their more ancient 
progenitors, the inhabitants of this country prior to the intrusions 
of the late Indians from Asia. 

Before we close this work, we shall attempt to make this appear 
from their own traditions, which have of late been procured from 
the most ancient of their tribes, the Wyandots, as handed down 
for hundreds of years, and from other sources. 

The very form and character which Dr. Beck has given the 
Osage Indians, argues them of a superior stock, or rather a dif- 
ferent race of men, as follows : "In person, the Osages are 
among the largest and best formed Indians, and are said to pos- 
sess fine military capacities; but residing as they do in villages, 
and having made considerable advances in agriculture, they seem 
less addicted to war than their northern neighbors." 

The whole of this character given of the Osage Indians, their 
military taste, their agricultural genius, their noble and command- 
ing forms of person, and being less " addicted to war," shows 
them, it would seem, exclusively of other origin, than that of the 
common Indians. 

It is supposed, the inhabitants who found their way first to this 
country, after the earths division, in the days of Peleg, and were 
here long before the modern Indians, came not by the way of 
Bhering's strait from Kamtschatka, in Asia, but directly from 
China across the Pacific, to the western coast of America, by 
means of islands which abounded anciently in that ocean between 
Chinese Tartary, China, and South America, even more than at 
present, which are, however, now very numerous; and also by 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST, 55 

the means of vessels, of which all mankind have always had a 
knowledge. In this way, without any difficulty, more than is 
common, they could have found their way to this, as men have 
to every part of the earth. 

We do not recollect that any of those peculiar monuments of 
antiquity appear north of the United States. Mackenzie, in his 
overland journey to the Pacific, travelling northwest from Mon- 
treal, in Canada,, does not mention a single vestige of the kind, 
nor does Carver. If, then, there are none of these peculiar kinds, 
such as the mounds, farther north than about the latitude of the 
Canadas, it would appear from this, that the first authors of these 
works, especially of the mounds, and tumuli, migrated, not from 
Asia, by way of Bhe ring's strait, but from Europe, east — China, 
west — and from Africa, south — continents now separated, then 
touching each other, with islands innumerable besides, affording 
the means. 

If this supposition, namely, that the continents in the first ages 
immediately after the flood, were united, is not allowed, how, then, 
it might be inquired, came every country yet discovered, of any 
size, having the natural means of human subsistence, to be found 
inhabited ? 

In the very way this can be answered, the question relative to 
the means by which South America was first peopled, can also be 
answered, namely ; the continents, as intimated on the first pages 
of this work, as quoted from Dr. Clarke, were, at first, that is, 
immediately after the flood, till the division of the earth, in the 
days of Peleg, connected together, so that mankind, with all kinds 
of animals, might pass to every quarter of the globe, suited to 
their natures. If such were not the fact, how then did the seve- 
ral kinds of animals get to every part of the earth from the ark % 
They could not, as man, make use of the boat, or vessel, nor 
could they swim such distances. 

From Dr. Clarke's Travel's it appears, ancient works exist to 
this day, in some parts of Asia, similar to those of North Ame- 
rica. His description of them, reads as though he were contem- 
plating some of these western mounds. The Russians call these 
sepulchres logri; and vast numbers of them have been discovered 
in Siberia and the deserts bordering on the empire to the south. 
Historians mention these tumuli, with many particulars. In them 



56 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

were found vessels, ornaments, trinkets, medals, arrows, and oth- 
er articles; some of copper, and even gold and silver, mingled 
with the ashes and remains of dead bodies. 

When, and by whom, these burying places of Siberia and Tar- 
tary, more ancient than the Tartars themselves, were used, is ex- 
ceedingly interesting. The situation, construction, appearance, 
and general contents of these Asiatic tumuli, and the American 
mounds, are however, so nearly alike^ that there can be no hesi- 
tation in ascribing them to the same races, in Europe, Asia, Afri- 
ca, and America; and also to the same ages of time, or nearly so, 
which we suppose, was very soon after the flood; a knowledge of 
mound building was then among men, as we see in the authors of 
Babel. 

" The triune cup (see plate, letter E.,) deposited in Qne of the 
museums at Cincinnati, affords some probable evidence, that a 
part, at least, of the great mass of human population, once inhabit- 
ing the valley of the Mississippi, were of Hindoo origin. It is an 
earthen vessel, perfectly round, and will hold a quart, having 
three distinct faces, or heads, joined together at the back part of 
each, by a handle. The faces of these figures strongly resemble 
the Hindoo countenance, which is here well executed. Now, it 
is well known, that in the mythology of India, three chief gods 
constitute the acknowledged belief of that people named Brahma* 
Vishnoo, and Siva. May not this cup be a symbolical represen- 
tation of that belief, r and may it not have been used for some sa- 
cred purpose, here, in the valley of the Mississippi ? In this coun- 
try, as in Asia, the mounds are seen at the junction of many of 
the rivers, as along the Mississippi, on the most eligible positions 
for towns, and in the richest lands: and the day may have been, 
when those great rivers, the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Illinois, 
and the Muskingum, beheld along their sacred banks, countless 
devotees assembled for religious rites, such as now crowd in su- 
perstitious ceremonies, the devoted and consecrated borders of 
the Indus, the Ganges, and the Burrampooter, rivers of the Indies. 
Mounds in the west are very numerous, amounting to several 
thousand, none less than ten feet high, and some over one hun- 
dred. One opposite St. Louis measures eight hundred yards in 
circumference at its base, which is fifty rods. Sometimes they 
stand in groups, and with their circular shapes, at a distance look 



AND DISCOVERIS IN THE WEST. 57 

like enormous hay stacks, scattered through a meadow. From 
their great number, and occasional stupendous size, years and the 
labors of tens of thousands must have been required to finish 
them. 

Were it not, indeed, for their contents, and design manifested 
in their erection, they would hardly be looked upon as the work 
of human hands. In this view, they strike the traveller with the 
same astonishment as would be felt while beholding those oldest 
monuments of wordly art and industry, the Egyptian pyramids; 
and like them the mounds have their origin in the dark night of 
time, beyond even the history of Egypt itself. Whether or not 
these mounds were used at some former period, as " high places'' 
for purposes of religion, or fortifications, or for national burying 
places, each of which theories has found advocates, one infer- 
ence, however, amidst all the gloom which surrounds them, re- 
mans certain: the valley of the Ohio, was once inhabited by an 
immense agricultural population. We can see their vast funeral 
vaults, enter into their graves,, and look at their dry bones; but no 
passage of history tells their tale of life; no spirit comes forth 
from their ancient sepulchres, to answer the inquiries of the living. 
It is worthy of remark, that Breckenridge, in his interesting tra- 
vels through these regions, calculates that no less than jive thou- 
sands villages of this forgotten people existed; and that their lar- 
gest city was situated between the Mississippi and Missouri, not 
far from the junction of those rivers, near St. Louis, In this re- 
gion,, the mighty waters of the Missouri and Illinois, with their 
unnumbered tributaries, mingle with the " father of rivers," the 
Mississippi; (Mississippi, the word in the Indian language means 
Father of Rivers;) a situation formed by nature, calculated to in- 
vite multitudes of men, from the goodness of the soil, and the fa- 
cilities of water communications. . , 

The present race, who are now fast peopling the unbounded 
west, are apprised of the advantages of this region. Towns and 
cities are rising on the very ground where the ancient millions of 
mankind had their seats of empire. Ohio now contains more than 
six hundred thousand inhabitants; but at that early day, the same 
extent of country, most probably, was filled with a far greater 
population than inhabits it at the present time. Many of the 
mounds are completely occupied with human skeletons, and mil- 



58 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

lions of them must have been interred in these vast cemeteries, 
that can be traced from the Rocky mountains, on the west, 
to the Alleghenies on the east, and into the province of the Texas 
and New Mexico to the south: revolutions like those known in 
the old world may have taken place here, and armies, equal to 
those of Cyrus, of Alexander the Great, or of Tamerlane, the 
powerful, might have flourished their trumpets, and marched to 
battle, over these extensive plains, filled with the probable de- 
scendants of that same race in Asia, whom these proud conquerors 
vanquished there." 



Course of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. 

There is a strong resemblance between the northern and inde- 
pendent Tartar, and the tribes of the North American Indians, but 
not of the South American. Besides this reason, there are others 
for believing our aborigines of North America were descended 
from the ancient Scythians, and came to this country from the 
eastern part of Asia. 

This view by no means invalidates the opinion that some tribes 
of the Indians of North America are descendants of the Israelites, 
because the Scythians, under this particular name, existed long 
before that branch of the family of Shem, called Israelites; who, 
after they had been carried away by Salmanasser, the Assyrian 
king, about 700 years B. C, went northward, as stated by Esdras, 
(see his second book, thirteenth chapter, from verse 40 to verse 
45, inclusive,) through a part of Independent Tartary. During 
this journey, which carried them among the Tartars, now so call- 
ed, but were anciently the Scythians, and probably became amal- 
gamated with them. This was the more easily effected, on account 
of the agreement of complexion and common origin. If this may 
be supposed, we perceive at once, how the North American In- 
dians are in possession of both Scythian and Jewish practices. 
Their Scythian customs are as follows: — " Scalping their prison- 
ers, and torturing them to death. Some of the Indian nations also 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 59 

resemble the Tartars in the construction of their canoes, imple- 
ments of war, and of the chase, with the well known habit of 
marching in Indian file, and their treatment of the aged;" these 
are Scythian customs. 

Their Jewish customs are too many to be enumerated in this 
work; for a particular account of those customs, see Smith's View 
of the Hebrews. If, then, our Indians have evidently the man- 
ners of both the Scythian and the Jew, it proves them to have 
been, anciently, both Israelites and Scythians; the latter being the 
more ancient name of the nations now called Tartars,* with whom 
the. ten tribes may have amalgamated. That the Israelites, called 
the ten tribes, who were carried away from Judea by Salmanasser 
to the land of Assyria, went from that country in a northerly di- 
rection, as quoted from Esdras, above, is evident, from the Map 
of Asia. Look at Esdras again, 43d verse, chap. 13, and we 
shall perceive, they " entered into the Euphrates by the narrow 
passes or heads of that river," which runs from the north into the 
Persian gulf. 

It is not probable that the country which Esdras called Arsareth 
could possibly be America, as many have supposed, because a vast 
company, such as the ten tribes were at the time they left Syria, 
(which was about one hundred years after their having been car- 
ried away from Judea, nearly 3000 years ago,) could travel fast 
enough to perform the journey in so short a time as a year and 
a half. 

We learn from the map of Asia, that Syria was situated at the 
southeasterly end of the Mediterranean sea, and that in entering 
info the narrow passes of the Euphrates, as Esdras says, would 
lead them north of Mount Ararat, and southeasterly of the Black 
sea, through Georgia, over the Caucassian mountains, and so on 
to Astracan, which lies north of the Caspian sea. We may, with 
the utmost show of reason, be permitted to argue, that this vast 
company of men, women, and ther little ones, would naturally be 
compelled to shape their course so as to avoid the deep rivers, 
which it cannot well be supposed they had the means of crossing, 
except when frozen. Their course would then be along the heads 
of the several rivers running north, after they had passed the coun- 

* The appellation of Tartar was not known till the year A. D. 1227, who 
were at that time considered a new race of barbarians. — Morse. 



60 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

try of Astracan. From thence over the Ural mountains, or that 
part of that chain running along Independent Tartary. Then, 
after having passed over this mountain near the northern boundary 
of 1 ndependent Tartary, they would find themselves at the foot of 
the little Altain mountains, which course would lead them, if 
they still wished to avoid deep and rapid rivers, running from 
the little Altain mountains northward, or northwesterly, into the 
Northern ocean, across the immense and frozen regions of Sibe- 
ria-. The names of those rivers beginning on the easterly side of 
the Ural mountains, are first, the river Obi, with its many heads, 
or little rivers, forming at length the river Obi, which empties into 
the Northern ocean, at the gulf of Obi, in latitude of about 67 de- 
grees north. 

The second is the river Yenisei, with its many heads, having 
their sources in the same chain of mountains, and runs into the 
same ocean, further north, towards Bhering's straits, which is the 
point we are approximating, by pursuing this course. 

A third river, with its many heads, that rises at the base of an- 
other chain of mountains, called the Yablonoy, or Lena. 

There are several other rivers, arising out of another chain of 
mountains, farther on northward towards Bhering's straits, which 
have no name on the map of Asia; this range of mountains is 
called the St. Anovoya mountains, and comes to a point, or end, 
at the strait which separates Asia from America, which is but a 
small distance across, about forty miles only, and several islands 
between. 

Allowing the ten tribes, or if they may have become amalga- 
mated with the Tartars as they passed on this tremendous journey 
toward the Northern ocean, to have pursued this course, the dis- 
tance will appear from Assyria to the straits, to be six thousand, 
two hundred and fifty-five miles — more, by nearly one-half, than 
such a vast body, in moving on together, could possibly perform 
in a year and a half. Six miles a day would be as great a dis- 
tance as such a host could perform, where there is no way but 
that of forests untraced by man, and obstructed by swamps, 
mountains, fallen trees, and thousands of nameless hindrances. 
Food must be had, and the only way of procuring it must have 
been by hunting with the bow and arrow, and by fishing. The 
sjck must not be forsaken, the aged and the infant must be cher- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 61 

ished; all these things would delay, so that a rapid progress can- 
not be admitted. 

If, then, six miles a day is a reasonable distance to suppose 
they may have progressed, it follows that nearly three years, in- 
stead of a year and a half, would not have been more than suffi- 
cient to carry them from Syria to Bhering's straits, through a re- 
gion almost of eternal snow. 

This, therefore, cannot have been the course of the Ten Tribes 
to the land of Asareth, wherever it was; and, that it was north 
from Syria, we ascertain by Esdras, who says they went into the 
narrow passes of the Euphrates, which means its three heads, or 
branches, which arise north from Syria. From the head waters 
of this river, there is no way to pass on, but to go between the 
Black and Caspian seas, over the Caucassian mountains, as be- 
fore stated. 

From this point, they may have gone on to what is now called 
Astracan, as before rehearsed; but here we suppose they may have 
taken a west instead of a north direction, which would have been 
toward that part of Russia, which is now called Russia in Europe, 
and would have led them on between the rivers Don and Volga; 
the Don emptying into the Black sea, and the Volga into the 
Caspian. 

This course would have led them exactly to the places where 
Moscow and Petersburg now stand, and from thence, in a north- 
westerly direction, along the south end of the White sea, to Lap- 
land, Norway and Sweden, which lie along the coast of the North 
Atlantic ocean. 

Now, the distance from Syria to Lapland, Norway, and Swe- 
den, on the coast of the Atlantic, is scarcely three thousand miles; 
a distance which may have easily been travelled in a year and a 
half, at six miles a day, and the same opportunity have been af- 
forded for their amalgamation with Scythians or Tartars, as in 
the other course, towards Bhering's strait. Norway, Sweden, 
and Lapland may have been the land of Arsareth. 

But here arises a question; how, then, did they get into America 
from Lapland and Norway ? The only answer is, America and 
Europe must have been at that time united by land, or they may 
have built boats. 

The manner by which the original inhabitants and animals 



62 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

reached here, is easily explained, by adopting the supposition, 
which, doubtless, is the most correct, that the northwestern and 
western limits of America were, at some former period, united to 
Asia on the west, and to Europe on the east. 

This was partly the opinion of BufTon, and other great natu- 
ralists. That connection has, therefore, been destroyed, among 
other great changes this earth has evidently experienced since the 
flood. 

We have examples of these revolutions before our eyes. Flo- 
rida has gained leagues of land from the gulf of Mexico; and part 
of Louisiana, in the Mississippi valley, has been formed by the 
mud of rivers. Since the Falls of Niagara were first discovered, 
they have receded very considerably; and it is conjectured, that 
this sublimest of nature's curiosities was situated originally where 
Queenstown now stands. 

Sicily was united formerly to the continent of Europe, and an- 
cient authors affirm, that the straits of Gibraltar, which divide 
between Europe and Africa, were formed by a violent irruption 
of the ocean upon the land. Ceylon, where our missionaries have 
an establishment, has lost forty leagues by the sea, wkich is one 
hundred and twenty miles. 

Many such instances occur in history. Pliny tells us, that in 
his own time, the mountain Cymbotus, with the town of Eurites, 
which stood on its side, were totally swallowed up. He records 
the like of the city Tantelis, in Magnesia, and of the mountain 
Sopelus, both absorbed by a violent opening of the earth, so that 
no trace of either remained. Galanis and Garnatus, towns once 
famous in Phoenicia, are recorded to have met the same fate. The 
vast promontory, called Phlegium, in Ethiopia, after a violent 
earthquake in the night, was not to be seen in the morning, the 
earth having swallowed it up, and closed over it. 

Like instances we have of later date. The mountain Picus, in 
one of the Moluccas, was so high that it appeared at a vast dis- 
tance, and served as a landmark to sailors. But during an earth- 
quake in the isle, the mountain in an instant sunk into the bowels 
of the earth, and no token of it remained. The like happened in 
the mountainous parts of China, in 1556, when a whole province, 
with all its towns, cities and inhabitants, was absorbed in a mo- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 6$ 

ment ; an immense lake of water remaining in its place, even to 
this day. 

In the year 1646, during a terrible earthquake in the kingdom 
of Chili, several whole mountains of the Andes, one after another, 
were wholly absorbed in the earth. Probably many lakes, over 
the whole earth, have been occasioned in this way. Lake Ontario 
is supposed to have been formed in this way. 

The greatest earthquake we find in antiquity, is that mentioned 
by Pliny, in which twelve cities in Asia Minor were swallowed 
up in one night. But one of those most particularly described in 
history, is that of the year 1693. It extended to a circumference 
of two thousand six hundred leagues, chiefly affecting the sea 
coasts and great rivers. Its motions were so rapid, that those 
who lay at their length were tossed from side to side, as upon a 
rolling billow. The walls were dashed from their foundations, 
and no less than fifty-four cities, with an incredible number of 
villages, were either destroyed or greatly damaged. The city of 
Catanea, in particular, was utterly overthrown. A traveller, who 
was on his way thither, at the distance of some miles, perceived a 
black cloud hanging near the place. The sea all of a sudden 
began to roar — Mount iEtna to send forth great spires of flames; 
and soon after, a shock ensued, with a noise as if all the artillery 
in the world had been at once discharged. Although the shock 
did not continue above three minutes, yet near nineteen thousand 
of the inhabitants of Sicily perished in the ruins. 

We have said above, that Norway, Lapland, and Sweden, 
may have been the very land called the land of Arsareth, by Es- 
dras, in his second book, chapter thirteenth, who may, with the 
utmost certainty, be supposed to know the very course and place 
where these Ten Tribes went to, being himself a Jew and a his- 
torian, who at the present day is quoted by the first authors of the 
age. 

We have also said, it should be considered impossible for the 
Ten Tribes, after having left the place of their captivity, at the 
east end of the Mediterranean sea, which was the Syrian coun- 
try, for them to have gone in a year and a half to Bhering's strait, 
through the frozen wilderness of Siberia. 

In going away from Syria, they cannot be supposed to have had 
any place in view, only they had conferred among themselves that, 



64 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

as Esdras says, "they would leave the multitude of the heathen, 
and go forth into a country where never mankind dwelt;" which 
Esdras called the land of Arsareth. 

Now, it is not to be supposed, a land or country where no man 
dwelt could have a name, especially in that early age of the world, 
which was about seven hundred years before the Christian era: 
but on that very account, we may suppose the word Arsareth to be 
descriptive only of a vast wilderness country, where no man dwelt, 
and is probably a Persian word of that signification, for Syria was 
embraced within the Persian empire: the Israelites may have, in 
part, lost their original language., having been there in a state of 
captivity for more than one hundred years before they left that 
country. 

Esdras says that Arsareth was a land where no man dwelt; this 
statement is somewhat corroborated by the fact, that the country 
which we have supposed was Arsareth, namely, Norway, &c, 
was anciently unknown to mankind. On this point, see Morse's 
Geography, vol. 2, p. 28: 

"Norway — A region almost as unknown to the ancients as was 
America.'" 

But in this he is mistaken, as will appear by and by, in the 
course of this work. America loas known to the ancients. 

Its almost insular situation<iraving on the west the Atlantic 
ocean, on the south end the North sea, and on the east the Baltic 
and the gulf of Bothnia — these waters almost surrounding it — 
there being a narrow connexion of land with the European conti- 
nent only on the north, between the gulf of Bothnia and the 
White sea, which is Lapland, and was a reason quite sufficient 
why the ancients should have had no knowledge of that region of 
country. 

Naturalists, as before remarked, have supposed that America 
was, at some remote period before the Christian era, united to the 
continent of Europe; and that convulsions, such as earthquakes, 
volcanos, and the irruptions of the ocean, has shaken and over- 
whelmed a whole region of earth, lying between Norway and 
Baffin's bay, of which Greenland and Iceland, with many other 
islands, are the remains. 

But suppose the American and European continents, seven hun- 
dred years before the Christian era, were not united; how, then* 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 65 

did such part of the Ten Tribes as may have wandered to that 
region from Syria, get into America from Norway? The answer 
is easy: they may have crossed over, from island to island, in 
vessels or boats, for a knowledge of navigation, and that of the 
ocean too, was known to the Ten Tribes; for all the Jews and 
civilized nations of that age were acquainted with this art, derived 
from the Egyptians. 

But it may be said, there are no traces that the Jews were ever 
residents of Norway, Lapland, or Scandinavia. From the par- 
ticular shape of Norway, being surrounded by the waters of the 
sea, except between the gulf of Bothnia and the White sea, we 
perceive that the first people, whoever they were, must have ap- 
. proached it by the narrow pass between those two bodies of water, 
of only about forty-five miles in width, if they would go there by 
land. 

Consequently, the place now designated by the name of Lap- 
land, which is the northern end of Norway, was first peopled 
before the more southern parts. An inquiry, therefore, whether 
the ancient people of Lapland had any customs like those of the 
ancient Jews, would be pertinent to our hypothesis respecting the 
route of the Ten Tribes, as spoken of by Esdras. Morse, the 
geographer, says, that of the original population of Lapland very 
little is known with certainty. Some writers have supposed them 
to be a colony of Fins from Russia; others have thought that they 
bore a stronger resemblance to the Sejnoeids of Asia. Their lan- 
guage, however, is said by Leems to have less similitude to the 
Finnish, than the Danish to the German, and to be totally un- 
like any of the dialects of the Teutonic, or ancestors of the 
ancient Germans. But according to Leems, as quoted by Morse, 
in their language are found many Hebrew words; also, Greek 
and Latin. 

Hebrew words are found among the American Indians, in con- 
siderable variety. But how came Greek and Latin words to be 
in the composition of the Laponic language 1 ? 

This is easily answered, if we suppose them to be derived from 
the Ten Tribes; as, at the time they left Syria, the Greek and 
Latin were languages spoken every where in that region, as well 
as the Syrian and Chaldean. And on this very account, it is 
likely the Ten Tribes had in part lost their ancient language, as 

5 



66 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

it was spoken at Jerusalem, when Salmanasser carried them away.. 
So that by the time they left Syria, and the region thereabouts, to 
go to Arsareth, their language had become, from this sort of mix- 
ture, an entire new language, as they had been enslaved about 
one hundred years. 

So that, allowing the ancient Laplanders to have derived their 
tongue from a part of these ten wandering tribes, it well might be 
said by Leems, as quoted by Morse, that the language of Lap- 
land, commonly called the Laponic, had no words in common with 
th Gothic, or Teutonic, except a few Norwegian words, euz- 
dently foreign, and unassociated with any of the languages of 
Asia or Europe; these being of the Teutonic, or German origin, 
which goes back to within five hundred years of the flood, seve- 
ral centuries before the Ten Tribes were carried away by Salma- 
nasser. 

This view would seem to favor our hypothesis. We shall now 
show a few particulars respecting their religious notions, which 
seem to have, in some respects, a resemblance to those of the 
Jews. Their deities were of four kinds : 

1st. Super-celestial, named as follows: Radien, Atzihe, and 
Kiedde, the Creator. Radien and Atzihe they considered the 
fountain of all power, and Kiedde, or Radien Kiedde, the Son, or 
Creator. These were their supreme gods, and would seem to be 
borrowed from the Jewish doctrine of the Trinity. 

2d. Celestial, called Beiwe, the Sun, or as other ancient nations 
had it, Apollo, which is the same, and Ailekies, to whom Satur- 
day was consecrated. May not these two powers be considered 
as the shadows of the different orders of angels, as held by the 
Jews 1 

3d. Sub-celestial, or in the air and on the earth. Moderakka,, 
or the Lapland Lucina ; Saderakka, or Venus, to whom Friday 
was holy; and Juks Akka, or the Nurse. These are of heathen 
origin, derived from the nations among whom they had been 
slaves and wanderers, the Syrians. 

4th. Sub-terranean, as Saiwo, and Saiwo-Olmak, gods of the 
mountains; Saiwo-Guelle, or their Mercury, who conducted the 
shades, or wicked souls, to the lower regions. 

This idea would seem to be equivalent with the doctrine found 
in both the Jewish and Christian religions, namely, that Satan 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 67 

conducts or receives the souls of the wicked to his hell, in the 
subterranean fire of the earth. 

They have another deity, belonging to the fourth order; and 
him they call Jabme-Akko, or he who occupied their Elysium; in 
which the soul was furnished with a new body, and nobler privi- 
leges and powers, and entitled, at some future day, to enjoy the 
light of Radien, the fountain of power, and to dwell with him for- 
ever in the mansions of bliss. 

This last sentiment is certainly equivalent to the Jewish idea of 
heaven and eternal happiness in Abraham's bosom. It also, un- 
der the idea of a new body, shows a relation to the Jewish and 
Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body, at the last day; 
and is indeed wonderful. 

5th. An infernal deity, called Rota, who occupied and reigned 
in Rota-Abimo, or the infernal regions; the occupants of which, 
had no hopes of escape. He, together with his subordinates,, 
Fudno, Mubber, and Paha-Engel, were all considered as evil dis- 
posed towards mankind. 

This is too plain not to be applied to the Bible doctrine of one 
supreme devil and his angels, who are, sure enough, evil disposed 
towards mankind. 

Added to all this, the Laplanders were found in the practice of 
sacrificing to all their deities, the rein-deer, the sheep, and some- 
times the seal, pouring libations of milk, whey, and brandy, with 
offerings of cheese, &c. 

This last item of their religious manners is too striking not to 
claim its derivation from the ancient Jewish worship. The Lap- 
landers are a people but few in number, not much exceeding 
twelve hundred families ; which we imagine is a circumstance 
favoring our idea, that after they had remained a while in Ar- 
sareth, or Lapland and Norway, which is much the same thing, 
that their main body may have passed over into America, either 
in boats, from island to island; or, if there then was, as is sup- 
posed, an isthmus of land, connecting the continents, they passed 
over on that, leaving, as is natural, in case of such a migra- 
tion, some individuals or families behind, who might not wish 
to accompany them, from whom the present race of Laplanders 
may be derived. Their dress is much the same with that of our 
Indians ; their complexion is swarthy, black hair, large heads 

5* 



&S AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

high cheek bones, with wide mouths; all of which is strikingly 
national. They call themselves Same, their speech Same-giel, 
and their country Same-Edna. This last word sounds very much 
like the word Eden, and may be, inasmuch as it is the name of 
of their country, borrowed from the name of the region where 
Adam was created. 

When men emigrate from one region of the earth to another, 
which is very distant, and especially if the country to which they 
emigrate is a new one, or in a state of nature, it is perfectly natu- 
ral to give it the same name or names which distinguished the 
country and its parts, from which they emigrated. 

Edessa was the name of an ancient city of Mesopotamia, which 
was situated in the country or land of Assyria, between the rivers 
Euphrates and Tigris. In this region the Ten Tribes were held 
in bondage, who had been carried away by Salmanasser, the As- 
syrian monarch. We are, therefore, the more confirmed in this 
conjecture, from the similarity existing between the two names, 
Edna and Edessa, both derived, it is likely, from the more an- 
cient word Eden, which, from common consent, had its situation, 
before the deluge, not far from the same region where Turkey is 
now, between the Mediterranem, Black, and Caspian seas, and 
the Persian gulf, as before argued. 

If such may have been the fact, that a part of the Ten Tribes 
came over to America, in the way we have supposed, leaving the 
eold regions of Arsareth behind them, in quest of a milder climate, 
it would be natural to look for tokens of the presence of Jews, of 
some sort, along countries adjacent to the Atlantic. In order to 
this, we shall here make an extract from an able work, written 
exclusively on the subject of the Ten Tribes' having come from 
Asia by the way of Bhering's strait, by the Rev. Ethan Smith, of 
Poltney, Vt., who relates as follows: 

" Joseph Merrick, Esq., a highly respectable character in the 
church at Pittsfield, gave the following account: That in 1815, he 
was levelling some ground under and near an old wood-shed, 
standing on a place of his, situated on Indian Hill. He ploughed 
and conveyed away old chips and earth, to some depth. After 
the work was done, walking over the place, he discovered, near 
where the earth had been dug the deepest, a black strap, as it 
appeared, about six inches in length, and one and a half in 
breadth, and about the thickness of a leather trace to a harness. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 69 

He perceived it had, at each end, a loop, of some hard sub- 
stance, probably for the purpose of carrying it. He conveyed 
it to his house, and threw it into an old tool box. He after- 
wards found it thrown out at the door,- and again conveyed it to 
the box. 

" After some time, he thought he would examine it ; but in at- 
tempting to cut it, found it as hard as bone: he succeeded, how- 
ever, in getting it open, and found it was formed of two pieces of 
thick raw-hide, sewed and made water tight with the sinews of 
some animal, and gummed over; and in the fold was contained 
four folded pieces of parchment. They were of a dark yellow 
hue, and contained some kind of writing. The neighbors coming 
in to see the strange discovery, tore one of the pieces to atoms, in 
the true Hun and Vandal style. The other three pieces Mr. Mer- 
rick saved, and sent them to Cambridge, where they were exa- 
mined, and discovered to have been written with a pen, in Hebrew, 
plain and legible. The writing on the three remaining pieces of 
parchment, was quotations from the Old Testament. See Deut., 
chap, vi., from 4th to 9th verse, inclusive; also, chap, ri., verse 
13 to 21, inclusive; and Exodus, chap, xiii., 11 to 16, inclusive, 
to which the reader can refer, if he has the curiosity to read this 
most interesting discovery." 

These passages, as quoted above, were found in the strap of 
raw-hide, which unquestionably had been written on the very 
pieces of parchment, now in the possession of the Antiquarian 
Society, before Israel left the land of Syria, more than twenty- 
five hundred years ago; but it is not likely the raw-hide in which 
they were found enclosed, had been made a very great length 
of time. This would be unnatural, as a desire to look at the sa- 
cred characters would be very great, although they could not 
read them. This, however, was done at last, as it appears, and 
buried with some chief, on the spot where it was found, called 
Indian Hill. 

Dr. West, of Stockbridge, relates, that an old Indian informed 
him, that his fathers in this country had, not long since, been in 
the possession of a book, which they had, for a long time, carried 
with them; but having lost the knowledge of reading it, they 
buried it with an Indian chief. — (View of the Hebrews, p 223.) 

It had been handed down, from family to family, or from chief 



70 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

to chief, as a most precious relic, if not as an amulet, charm, or 
talisman; for it is not to be supposed, that a distinct knowledge of 
what was contained in the strap could have long continued among 
them in their wandering condition, amid woods and forests. 

" Jt is said by Calmet, that the above texts are the very passa- 
ges of Scripture which the Jews used to write on the leaves of 
their phylacteries. These phylacteries were little rolls of parch- 
ment, whereon were written certain words of the law. These 
they wore upon their forehead, and upon the wrist of the left arm. 77 
— (Smith's Vieiv of the Hebrews, p. 220.) 

This intimation of the presence of the Hebrews in America, is 
too unequivocal to be passed unnoticed, and the circumstance of 
its being found so near the Atlantic coast, and at so vast a dis- 
tance from Bhering 7 s straits, we are still inclined to suppose, that 
such of the. Israelites as found their way to the shores of America, 
on the coast of the Atlantic, may have come from Lapland or 
Norway; seeing evident tokens exist of their having once been 
there, as before noticed. 

But there is a third supposition respecting the land of Arsareth; 
which is, that it is situated exactly east from the region of Syria. 
This is thought to be the country now known in Asia by the appel- 
lation of Little Bucharia. Its distance from Syria is something 
more than two thousand miles; which, by Esdras, might very 
well be said to be a journey of a year and a half, through an en- 
tire wilderness. 

Bucharia, the region of country of which we are about to 
speak, as being the ancient resort of a part of the lost Ten Tribes, 
is in distance from England, 3,475 miles; a little southeast from 
the latitude of London; and from the state of New York, exactly 
double that distance, 6,950 miles, on an air line,, as measured on 
an artificial globe, and in nearly the same latitude, due east from 
this country. 

It is not impossible, after all our speculation, and the specula- 
tions of others, that instead of America, or of Norway, this same 
Bucharia is, in truth, the ancient country of Arsareth; although 
in the country of old Norway, and of America, abundant evi- 
dence of the presence of Jews at some remote period, no doubt 
derived from this stock, the Ten Tribes. 

The country of Bucharia is situated due east from Syria, where 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 71 

-the Ten Tribes were placed by Salmanassar, as well as farther 
east on the river Gozan, or Ganges, of Hindostan. The distance 
is about 2,500 miles, and at that time was a vast desert, lying 
beyond the settlements of men, in all probability; and in order to 
go there they must also pass through the narrow passes of the 
river Euphrates, or its heads, near the south end of the Caspian 
sea, and then nearly due east, inclining, however a little to the 
north. Two circumstances lead to a supposition that this Bu- 
charia is the Arsareth mentioned by Esdras. The first is, at this 
place is found a great population of Jews: Second, the word Ar- 
sareth is similar to the names of other regions of that country in 
Asia: as Ararat, Astracan, Samarcand, Yarcund, Aracan, Ala 
Tau, Alatanian, Aral, Altai, Arnu, Korassan, Balk, Bactriana, 
Bucharia, Argun, Narrat, Anderab Katlan: (this word is much 
like the Mexican names of places, as Aztalan, Copallan, and so 
on,) Anderab, Aktau, Ailak. Names of countries and rivers 
might be greatly multiplied, which bear a strong affinity in sound 
and formation to the word Arsareth, which is probably a Persian 
word, as well as the rest we have quoted, as from these regions, 
ancient Bucharia, the foundations of the Persian power was de- 
rived. 

The reader can choose between the three, whether America, 
Norway, or Bucharia, is the ancient country called Arsareth, as 
one of the three is, beyond a doubt, the place alluded to by Esdras, 
to which the Ten Tribes went; and in all three the traits of Jews 
are found. 

In this country, Bucharia, many thousand Jews have been dis- 
covered, who were not known by the Christian nations to have 
existed at all till recently. It would appear from this circum- 
stance, that the Ten Tribes may have divided, a part going east 
to the country now called Bucharia; and a part west, to the coun- 
try now called Norway; both of which, at that time, were the 
region of almost endless solitudes, and about equal distances 
from Syria: and from Bucharia to Bhering's strait, is also about 
the same distance. 

In process of time, both from Bucharia in Asia, and Norway in 
Europe, the diseendants from these Ten Tribes may have found 
■their way into America. Those from Norway, by the way of 
•islands, boats or continent, which may then have existed, between 
America and north of Europe; and those from Bucharia, by the 



72 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

way of Bhering's strait, which at that time, it is likely, was no 
strait, but an isthmus, if not a country of great extent, uniting 
Asia with America. The account of the Bucharian Jews is as 
follows : 

" After having seen, some years past, merchants from Tiflis, 
Persia, and Armenia, among the visitors at Leipsic, we have had, 
for the first time, (1826,) two traders from Bucha~ia, with shawls, 
which are tJiere manufactured of the finest wool of the goats of Thi- 
bet and Cashmere, by the Jewish families, who form a third part 
of the popoulation. In Bucharia, (formerly the capitol of Sog- 
diana,) the Jews have been very numerous ever since the Baby- 
lonian captivity, and are there as remarkable for their industry 
and manufactures, as they are in England for their money trans- 
actions. It was not till 1826, that the Russian government suc- 
ceeded in extending its diplomatic mission far into Bucharia. The 
above traders exchanged their shawls for coarse and fine woollen 
clothes, of such colors as are most esteemed in the east." 

Much interest has been excited by the information which this 
paragraph conveys, and which is equally novel and important. 
In none of the geographical works which we have consulted do 
we find the least hint as to the existence in Bucharia of such a 
body of Jews as are here mentioned, amounting to one-third of 
the whole population; but as the fact can no longer be doubted, 
the next point of inquiry which presents itself is, whence have 
they proceeded, and how have they come to establish themselves 
in a region so remote from their original country? This question, 
we think, can only be answered by supposing that these persons 
are the descendants of the long lost Ten Tribes, concerning the 
facts of which, theologians, historians, and antequarians, have 
been alike puzzled: and however wild this hypothesis may at first 
appear, there are not wanting circumstances to render it far from 
being improbable. In the 17th chapter of the second book of 
Kings, it is said, " in the ninth year of Hoshea the king of As- 
syria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and 
placed them in Helah and in Haber by the river Gozan, and in 
the cities of the Medes:" and in the subsequent verses, as well as 
the writings of the prophets, it is said, that the Lord then " put 
away Israel out of his sight, and carried them away into the land 
of Assyria unto this day." In the Apocrypha, 2d Esdras, ch. xiii.,. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 73 

it is. said, that the Ten Tribes were carried beyond the river, 
(Euphrates,) and so they were brought into another land, when 
they took counsel together, that they would leave the multitude of 
the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never 
mankind dwelt; that they entered in at the narrow passages cf the 
river Euphrates, . when the springs of the floods were stayed, 
(frozen,) and "went through the country a great journey, even a 
year and a half;" and it is added, "there will they remain, 
until the latter time, when they come forth again." The country 
beyond Bucharia was unknown to the ancients, and it is, we be- 
lieve, generally admitted, that the river Gozan, mentioned in the 
book of Kings, is the same as the Ganges, which has its rise in 
those very countries in which the Jews reside, of which the Liepsic 
account speaks. The distance which these two merchants must 
have travelled, cannot, therefore, be less than three thousand 
miles; and there can be but little doubt that the Jews, whom they 
represent as a third part of the population of the country, are 
descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel settled by the river Gozan. 
The great plain of Central Asia, forming four principal 
sides, viz: Little Bucharia, Thibet, Mongolia, Mantehous, 
contains a surface of 150,000 square miles, and a population 
of 20,000,000. This vast country is still very little known. 
The great traits of its gigantic formation compose, for the 
most part, all that we are certain of. It is an immense plain 
of an excessive elevation, intersected with barren rocks and 
vast deserts of black and almost moving sand. It is supported 
on all sides by mountains of granite, whose elevated summits 
determine the different climates of the great continent of Asia, 
and form the devision of its waters.. From its exterior flow all 
the great rivers of that part of the world. In the interior are 
a quantity of rivers, having little declivity, or no issue, which 
are lost in the sands, or perhaps feed stagnant waters. In the 
southern chains are countries, populous, rich and civilized; Little 
Bucharia, Great and Little Thibet. The people of the north are 
shepherds and wanderers. Their riches consist in their herds. 
Their habitations are tents, and towns, and camps, which are trans- 
ported according to the wants of pasturage The Buchanans en- 
joy the right of trading to all parts of Asia, and the Thibetians 
cultivate the earth to advantage. The ancients had but a confused 



74 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

idea of Central Asia. " The inhabitants of the country," as we 
learn from good authority, '« are in a high state of civilization; 
possessing all the useful manufactures, and lofty houses built with 
stone. The merchants of Cashmere, on their way to Yarkland in 
Little Bukharia pass through Little Thibet. This country is scarce- 
ly known to European geographers." The immense plain of 
Central Asia is hemmed in, and almost inaccessible by mountain 
ranges of the greatest elevation, which surround it on all sides, 
except China; and when the watchful jealousy of the government 
of the Celestial Empire is considered, it will scarcely be wondered 
at, that the vast region in question is so little known. 

Such is the country which these newly discovered Jews are 
said to inhabit in such numbers. The following facts may per- 
haps serve to throw some additional light on this interesting sub- 
ject. 

In the year 1822, a Mr. Sargon, who had been appointed one 
of the agents of the London Society, communicated to England 
some interesting accounts of a number of persons resident at 
Bombay, Cinnamore, and their vicinity, who are evidently the 
descendants of the Jews, calling themselves Beni Israel, (sons of 
Israel) and bearing almost uniformly Jewish names, but with Per- 
sian terminations. This gentleman, feeling very desirous of ob- 
taining all possible knowledge of their condition, undertook a mis- 
sion for this purpose to Cinnamore; and the result of his inquiries 
was, a conviction that they were not Jews of the one tribe and a 
half, being of a different race to the white and black Jews at 
Cochin, and consequently, that they were a remnant of the long 
lost Ten Tribes. This gentleman also concluded, from the infor- 
mation he obtained respecting the Beni Israel, or sons of Israel, 
that they existed in great numbers in the countries between Cochin 
and Bombay, the north of Persia, among the hordes of Tartary, 
and in Cashmere; the very countries in which, according to the 
paragraph in the German paper, they exist in such numbers. So 
far, then, these accounts confirm each other, and there is every 
probability that the Beni Israel, resident on the west of the Indian 
peninsula, had originally proceeded from Bucharia. It will, there- 
fore, be interesting to know something of their moral and religi- 
ous character. The following particulars are collected from Mr. 
Sargon's accounts : 1. In dress and manners they resemble the 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 



75 



natives so as not to be distinguished from them, except by atten- 
tive observation and inquiry. 2. They have Hebrew names of 
the same kind, and with the same local termination as the Sepoys 
in the the ninth regiment Bombay native infantry. 3. Some of 
them read Hebrew, and they have a faint tradition of the cause of 
their original exodus (exit) from Egypt. 4. Their common lan- 
guage is the Hindoo. 5. They keep idols and worship them, and 
use idolatrous ceremonies intermixed with Hebrew. 6. They cir- 
cumcise their children. 7. They observe the Kipper, or great ex- 
piation day of the Hebrews, but not the Sabbath, or any of the 
feast or fast days. 8. They call themselves Gorah Jehadi, or 
white Jews; and they term the black Jews Collet Jehndi. 9. They 
speak of the Arabian Jews as their brethren, but do not acknow- 
ledge the European Jews as such. They use, on all occasions, 
and under the most trivial circumstances, the usual Jewish prayer 
— " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." 10. They 
have no cohen, (priest) levite, or kasi, among them, under those 
terms; but they have a kasi, (reader) who performs prayers, and 
conducts their religious ceremonies ; and they appear to have 
elders and a chief in each community, who determine in their 
religious concerns. 11. They expect the Messiah, and that they 
will one da}' return to Jerusalem. They think the time of his ap- 
pearance will soon arrive, at which they much rejoice, believing 
that at Jerusalem they will see their God, worship him only, and 
be despised no more. 

These particulars, we should presume, can scarcely fail to 
prove interesting, both in a moral and religious, as well as in a 
geographical point of view. The number of the scattered mem- 
bers of the tribes of Judah, and the half tribe of Benjamine, 
rather exceed than fall short of five millions. Now, if this num- 
ber be added to the many other millions to be found in the different 
countries of the east, what an immense power would be brought 
into action, were the spirit of nationality once roused, or any ex- 
traordinary event to occur, which should induce them to unite in 
claiming possession of that land which was given to them iC for 
an heritage forever," and to which, in every other clime of the 
earth, their fondest hopes and their dearest aspiration never cease 
to turn. 

But although the opinion that the American Indians are the de- 



76 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

scendants of the lost Ten Tribes, is now a popular one, and ge- 
nerally believed, yet there are some who totally discard this 
opinion. And among such, as chief, is Professor Rafinesque, 
whose opinions on the subject of the flood of Noah not being uni- 
versal, and of the ark, we have introduced on the first pages of 
this work. 

This gentleman is decidedly, and we may say severely, opposed 
to this doctrine, and alleges that the Ten Tribes were never lost, 
but are still in the countries of the east about the region of ancient 
Syria, in Asia. He ridicules all those authors who have attempted 
to find in the customs of the Indians, traits of the Jews, and 
stamps them with being egregiously ignorant of the origin of things 
pertaining to this subject. This is taking a high stancl, indeed, 
and if he can maintain it, he has a right to the honor thereof. 
Upon this notion, he says, a new sect of religion has arisen* name- 
ly, the Mormonites, who pretend to have discovered a book with 
golden leaves, in which is the history of the American Jews, and 
their leader, Mormon, who came hither more than 2,000 years 
ago. This work is ridiculous enough, it is true ; as the whole 
book of Mormon bears the stamp of folly, and is a poor attempt 
at an imitation of the Old Testament Scriptures, and is without 
connection, object, or aim ; shewing every where language and 
phrases of too late construction to accord with the Asiatic manner 
of composition, which highly characterises the the style of the, 
Bible, and how can it be otherwise as it was written in Ontario 
county, New York. 

As reasons, this philosopher advances as follows, against the 
American nations being descended from the Ten Tribes of ancient 
Israel : 

"1. These Ten Tribes are not lost, as long supposed ; their 
descendants, more or less mixed with the natives, are yet found 
in Media, Iran, Taurin, Caublistan, Hindostan, and China, where 
late travellers have traced them calling themselves by various 
names. 

2. The American nations knew not the Sabbath, nor yet the 
Sabbattical weeks and years of the Jews. This knowledge could 
never have been lost by the Hebrews. The only weeks known 
in America, were of three days, five days, and half lunations, (or 
half a moon) as among the primitive nations, before the week of 



AND DISCOVERIES IN WEST. 77 

seven days was used in Asia, which was based upon the seven 
planets, long before the laws of Moses." 

Here is another manifest attempt of this philosopher to invali- 
date the Scriptures, in attempting to fix the origin of the ancient 
Jewish and present Christian Sabbath, on the observances of the 
ancient nations, respecting the motions of the seven primary 
planets of the heavens ; when it is emphatically said, in the He- 
brew Scriptures, that the week of seven days was based on the 
seven day's work of the Creator, in 'the creation of the world. 
And as the Creation is older than the astronomical observations 
of the most ancient nations of the earth, it is evident that the 
Scripture account of the origin of seven-day week ought to have 
•the precedence over all opinions since sprung up. 

3. He says, " The Indians hardly knew the use of iron, al- 
though common among the Hebrews, and likely never to be lost ; 
nor did they, the Indians of America, know the use of the plough." 

" 4. The same applies to the use of writing ; such an art is 
never lost when once known." 

"5. Circumsion was unknown, and even abhorred by the Ame- 
ricans, except two nations, who used it — The Mayans, of Yu- 
actan, in South America, who worshipped a hundred idols, and 
the Calchaquis, of Caho, of the same country, who worshipped 
the sun and stars, believing that departed souls became stars. 
These beliefs are quite different from Judaism; and besides this, 
the rite of circumsion was common to Egypt, Ethiopia, Edom, 
and Chalchis." 

But to this we reply, supposing circumsion was practised by all 
those nations, and even more, this does not disprove the rite to be 
of pure Hebrew or Jewish origin, as we have an account of it in 
the Scriptures written by Moses, as being in use quite two thou- 
sand years before Christ ; long enough before Abraham or his 
posterity knew any thing of the Egyptians; it was therefore, most 
undoubtedly introduced among the Egyptians by the Jews them- 
selves, or their ancestors, and from thrmthe custom has gone out 
into many nations of the earth. 

Again, Mr. Rafinesque says, one tribe there was, namely, the 
Calchaquis, who worshipped the sun and the stars, supposing 
them to be the souls of the departed. 

This notion is not very far removed from, or at least may have 



78 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

had its origin with the Jews; for Daniel, one of their prophets, 
who lived about 500 years before Christ, expressly says, respect- 
ing the souls of the departed righteous: " They that be wise shall 
shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn 
many to righteousness, as the stars, for ever and ever." A sen- 
timent of such transcendant beauty and consequence is not easily 
lost* This tribe, therefore, as above named, may they not have 
been of Jewish origin 1 

" 6. None of the American tribes have the striking ; sharp, 
Jewish features, and physical conformation." [But other authors 
of equal celebrity, have a contrary opinion. Mitchel and others.] 

" 7. The American Indians eat hogs, hares, fish, and all the 
forbidden animals of Moses, but each tribe abstain from their 
tutelar animals," (which, as they imagine, presides over their 
destinies,) " or badges of families of some peculiar sort." 

But to this we reply, most certainly the Jews did use fish ; as 
in all their history, even in the Bible, frequent reference is had to 
heir use of fishes, and to their fish markets, where they were 
sold and bought. 

" 8. The American customs of scalping ; torturing prisoners, 
cannibalism, painting their bodies, and going naked, even in very 
cold climates, are totally unlike the Hebrew customs." Scapling, 
with several other customs of the sort, we have elsewhere in this 
work shown to be of Scythian origin; but does not, on that account, 
prove; nor in any way invalidate the other opinion, that some of 
the tribes are of Jewish origin. 

" 9. A multitude of languages exists in America, which may 
perhaps be reduced to twenty-five radical languages, and two thou- 
sand dialects. But they are often unlike the Hebrew, in roots, 
words, and grammar ; they have, by far, says the author, more 
analogies with the Sanscrit/ 7 (the ancient Chinese) Celtic, Bask, 
Pelasgian Berber," (in Europe;J" Lybian, Egyptian," (in Afri- 
ca;) " Persian, Turan, &c," (also in Europe;) " or in fact, all 
the primitive languages of mankind." This we believe. . 

"10. The Americans cannot have sprung from a single nation, 
because, independently of the languages, their features and com- 
plexions are as various as in Africa and Asia." 

" We find in America, white, tawny, brown, yellow, olive, cop- 
per, and even black nations, as in Africa. Also, dwarfs and 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 7J> 

giants, handsome and ugly features, flat and aquiline noses^ 
thick and thin lips/' &c. [Among the Jews is also a great 
variety.] ■ 

The Rev. Mr. Smith, of Pultney, Vt., a few years since, pub- 
lished a work entitled " A View of the Hebrews, " in which he 
labors to establish that the American Indians worshipped but one 
God; the great Yohewah, or Jehovah of the Scriptures. This is 
vehemently opposed by philosopher Rafinesque, as follows, in re- 
ply to him. 

" You say, all the Americans had the same God Yohewa; this 
is utterly false. This was the god of the Chactas, and Florida 
Indians only ; many other tribes had tripple gods, or trimurtis, 
as in Hindostan, having names nearly Sanscrit." [But neither 
does this disprove that some of these tribes are of Jewish origin.] 

" Polytheism/' (a plurality of gods,) " idolatry, and a complex 
mythology, prevailed among all the most civilized nations" of this 
country. 

" All the ancient religions were found in America," which 
have prevailed in the old world, in the earliest ages, as " Theism, 
Sabaism, Magism, Hindooism, Shamanism, Fetichism, &c. but 
no Judaism. 

He says, the few examples of the affinity between the Indian 
languages and the Hebrew, given by Mr. Smith, in his work, be- 
long only to the Floridan and Caribbean languages. Mr. Rafin- 
esque says, he could show ten times as many in the Aruac, Gua- 
rian," (languages of South America,) " but what is that com- 
pared with the 100,000 affinities with the primitive languages." 

et All the civilized Americans had a priesthood, or priestly caste, 
and so had the Hindoos, Egyptians, Persians, Celts, and Ethio- 
pians. Were they all Jews ? 

" Tribes are found among all the ancient nations, Arabs, 
Berbers, Celts, Negroes, &c., who are not Jews. The most ci- 
vilized nations had castes, instead of tribes, in America as well 
as Egypt and India ; the Mexicans, the Mayans, Muhizcas, the 
Peruvians, &c, had no tribes. The animal badges of tribes, are 
found among Negroes and Tartars, as well as our Indians." 

"Arks of covenant and cities of refuge are not peculiar to the 
Jews; many Asiatic nations had them, also the Egyptians, and 
nine-tenths of our Indian tribes have none at all, or have only 



SO AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

holy bags," (for an ark) somewhat like a tailsman, a charm, or 
as the " Fetiches, of the Africans." 

But we reply, there is no evidence that other nations than the 
Jews had cities of refuge and imitations of the ark of the covenant, 
prior to the time of Moses, which was full sixteen hundred years 
before Christ, and from whom it is altogether probable, that all 
the nations among whom such traits are found, derived them at 
first from the laws of that Hebrew legislator Those nations, 
therefore, among whom, at this distance of time, those traits are 
found most resembling the Jews, may be said, with some degree 
of propriety, to be their descendants ; and among many tribes of 
the western Indians, these traits are found, if we may believe the 
most credible witnesses. 

" The religious cry of aleluga, is not Jewish, says this au- 
thor, but primitive, and found among the Hindoos, Arabs, Greeks, 
Saxons, Celts, Lybians, &c, under the modification of hulili 
yululu, tulujha, Sfc. Other Americans call it tilulaez, gualulu, 
alvyah Sfc." 

All this being true, which we are willing to allow^ does not dis- 
prove but that these forms of speech, which are directed in praise 
and adoration of a supreme or superior being, of some nature, no 
matter what, may all have originated from the Hebrew Jews, as 
this name of God, namely, Jehovah, was known among that na- 
tion, before the existence, as nations, by those names, of either 
the Hindoos, Arabs, Greeks, Saxons, Celts, or Lybians ; for it 
was known in the family of Noah, and to all the patriarchs be- 
fore the fllood. The original word, translated God, was Jehova, 
and also Elohim, which are generally translated Lord and God. 

In the second chapter of Genesis, at the fourth verse, the word 
Jehovah first occurs, says Dr. Clarke, in the original as written by 
Moses ; but was in use long before the days of Abraham, 
among the ancestors of that patriarch. From this word, Jehovah, 
and Elohim, the words aleluLa &c, as above, it is admitted on all 
hands, were at first derived; and are in all nations, where known 
and used, directed to the praise and adoration of the Almighty, 
or other objects of worship. 

The most exalted form of praise, it appears, was known to 
John the Revelator, for he says, in chapter xix., " I heard a 
great voice of much people in heaven, saying alleluia ; and 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 81 

again, they said AlleluV This form of praise, says Dr. Clarke, 
the heathen borrowed from the Jews, as is evident from the 
Pceans, or hymns, sung in honor of Apollo, which began and ended 
with eleleuie, a mere composition of the Hebrew words alleulia 
and hallelujah. It is even found among the North American In- 
dians, and adapted by them to the same purpose, viz., the worship 
of God, or the Great Spirit 

From what we have been able to show on this subject as above, 
"we cannot subscribe to the opinion, that those words are not of 
Hebrew and Jewish origins; consequently, being of Hebrew ori- 
gin, it must follow, that where they are found in the most pure 
and unadulterated use, that the people so using them are most likely 
to be of Jewish descent ; and this is found among the American 
Indians. 

Among some of their tribes they have a place denominated the 
beloved square, Here they sometimes dance a whole night ; but 
always in a bowing or worshipping posture, singing continually^ 
hallelujah Ye-ho-wah, Ye-ho-vah ; which last word, says Clarke, 
is probably the true pronunciation of the ancient Hebrew word, 
Jehovah. 

It is no marvel, then, that these Jewish customs are found 
" among nearly all the ancient nations of Asia, Africa, Europe 
and Polynesia, nay, even among the wild negroes to this day," 
since they were in use at the very outset of the spread of the na- 
tions from Ararat, and are, therefore, of Hebrew primitive origin, 
but not heathen primitive origin, as asserted by Rafinesque, We 
are not tenacious, however, whether the Ten Tribes were lost or 
not, nor do we disagree to the opinions that they are found in al- 
most all parts of the old world, having mingled *with the various 
nations of Asia ; but if so, we inquire, why may they not, 
therefore, be found in America 1 Could they not as easily have 
found their way hither as the other nations of the east? Most as- 
suredly. 

It is not the object of this volume to contend on this point; but 
when we find attempts to overturn the Scriptures, and, if possi- 
ble, to make it appear, if not by so many words, yet in the man- 
ner we understand this writer's remarks, that the Bible itself is 
nothing else than a collection of heathenism, placed under the 
plausible idea of primitive words, primitive usuages and primitive 

6 



82 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

religion ; we think this is placing the (currus bovem trdhit) cart: 
before the horse, and should not be allowed to pass without re- 
proof. 



Jl further account of the Convulsions of the Globe, with the 
Removal of Islands. 

If the supposition of naturalists may obtain belief, there has 
been a whole continent, reaching from the north of Europe to- 
Bhe ring's strait; uniting not only Europe with America, on the 
east, but also Asia on the north, and may have continued on south 
from Bhering's strait, some way down the Pacific, as BufTon part- 
ly believed, uniting America and China on the west. 

It was contended by Clavigero, that the equatorial parts of Af- 
rica and America were once united. By which means, before the 
connexion was torn away by the irruption of the sea on both sides, 
the inhabitants from the African continent came, in the earliest 
ages, to South America. Whether this be true or not, the two 
countries approach each other in a remarkable manner, along the 
coast of Guinea, on the side of Africa, and the coast of Pernam- 
buco, on the side of South America. These are the places which, 
in reality, seem to stretch towards each other, as though they had 
been once united. 

The innumerable Islands scattered all over the Pacific ocean, 
populous with men, more than intimates a period, even since the 
flood, when all the different continents of the globe were united 
together, and the sea so disposed of, that they did not break this 
harmony so well calculated to facilitate the migrations of men and 
animals. 

Several tribes of the present Southern Indians, as they now are 
called, have traditions that they come from the east, or through 
the Atlantic ocean. Rafinesque, says, it is important to distin- 
guish the American nations of eastern origin from those of 
northern. The latter, he says, were invaders from Tartary, 
and were as different in their manners as were the Romans and 
Vandals. 

The southern nations, among whom this tradition is found, are 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 83 

the Natchez, Apalachians, Talascas, Mayans, Myhizcas, and 
Haytians. But those of the Algonquin stock point to a north- 
west origin, which is the way from the northern regions of Asia. 

It is not likely, that immediately after the era of the deluge, 
there was as much ocean which appeared above ground, as at the 
present time ; but instead of this, lakes were more numerous. 
Consequently, on the surface of the globe there was much more 
land than at the present time But from various convulsions, 
more than we have spoken of, whose history is now lost, in past 
ages, many parts, nay, nearly all the earthly surface is sunken 
to the depths below, while the waters have risen above ; nearly 
three-fourths of the globe's surface is known to be water. How 
appalling is this reflection! 

The currents of ocean running through the bowels ef the earth, 
by the disposition of its creator, to promote motion in the waters, 
as motion is essential to all animal life, have, doubtless, by sub- 
terranean attrition, affected the foundations of whole islands, 
which have sunk beneath the waters at different periods. To such 
convulsions as these, it would seem, Job has alluded, in chapter 
ix., verse 5, as follows : " Which removeth the mountains, and 
they know not ; which overturneth them in his anger," 

Adam Clarke's comment on this verse is as follows : " This 
seems to refer to earthquakes. By these strong convulsions, 
mountains, valleys, hills, even whole islands, are removed in an 
instant; and to this latter circumstance the words ' they know not? 
most probably refer. The work is done in the twinkling of an 
eye ; no warning is given ; the mountain that seemed to be as 
firm as the earth on which it rested, was in the same moment both 
visible and invisible, so suddenly was it swallowed up." — (See p. 
59, 60.) 

It can scarcely be supposed but Job was acquainted with occur- 
ences of the kind, in order to justify his remark of such occuren- 
ces as being done by God in his anger. 

It is not impossible but the fact upon which the following story 
is founded, may have been known to Job, who was a man suppos- 
ed in possession of every species of information calculated to in- 
terest the nobler faculties of the human mind, if we may judge 
from the book bearing his name. The story is an account of a 
certain island, called by the ancients Atalantis; and as all learn- 



84 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

v 

ing, uninspired, and general information, was anciently in posses- 
sion of heathen philosophers and priests, to whom it was the cus- 
tom even for princes to resort before they were considered quali- 
fied to sit on the the thrones of their fathers, we are inclined to 
credit the account as it is given by one of those characters. Such 
were the Egyptian priests to the Egyptians, and the Druids to the 
Celtic nations ; the Brahmins to the Hindoos ; the- J\lagi to the 
Persians; the philosophers to the Greeks and Romans ; and the 
prophets of the Indians, to the western tribes. 

"" This island is mentioned by Plato, in his dialogue of Timaeus. 
Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, is supposed to have travelled into 
Egypt," about six hundred years before Christ. Plato's time was 
three hundred years nearer the time of Christ, who has mentioned 
the travels of Solon in Egypt. " He arrived at an ancient tem- 
ple on the Delta, a fertile island formed by the £tfi>le, where he 
held a conversation with certain learned priests, on the antiquities 
of remote ages. When one of them gave Solon a description of 
the island Atalantis, and also of its destruction. This island, said 
the Egyptian priest, was situated in the Western ocean, opposite 
the strait of Gibraltar ;" which would place it exactly between a 
part of Europe, its southern end, and the northern part of Africa 
and the continent of America. 

?' There was, said the priest, an easy passage from this to other 
islands, which lay adjacent to a large continent, exceeding in 
size all Europe and Asia." Neptune settled in this island, from 
whose son Atlas, its name was derived, and divided it between 
his ten sons, who reigned there in regular succession for many 



From the time of Solon's travels in Egypt, which was six hua 6 
dred years before Christ, we find more than seventeen hundred 
years up to the flood ; so that time enough had elapsed since the 
flood to justify the fact of the island having existed, and also of 
having been inhabited and destroyed even six hundred years be- 
fore the time of Solon; which would make the time of its destruc- 
tion twelve hundred years before Christ ; and would still leave 
more than five hundred years from that period back to the flood. 
So that if King Neptune had not made his settlement on the is- 
land Atalantis till two hundred years after the flood, there would 
have been time for the successive reigns of each of the regal 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 85 

lines of his sons, amounting to three hundred years, before the 
time of its envelopement in the sea ; so that the priest was 
justified in using the term antiquities, when he referred to that 
catastrophe. 

" They made, i. e. the Atalantians, irruptions into Europe and 
Africa ; subduing all Lybia, as far as Egypt, Europe, and Asia 
Minor. They were resisted, however, by the Athenians, and 
driven back to their Atlantic territories." If they were resist- 
ed and driven back by the Athenians, the era of the existence 
of this island is easily ascertained; because the Athenians settled 
at Athens, in Greece, fifteen hundred and fifty-six years before 
Christ, being a colony from Egypt, under their conductor, Ce- 
crops. One hundred years after their establishment at Athens, 
they had become powerful, so as to be able to take a political 
stand among the nations of that region, and to defend their coun- 
try against invasions. Accordingly, at the time the Atalantians 
were repulsed and compelled to return from whence they came, 
was in the year fourteen hundred and forty -three, before Christ, 
or nearly so. 

"Shortly after this, 7 ' says Plato, "there was a tremendous 
earthquake, and an overflowing of the sea, which continued for a 
day and night; in the course of which, the vast island of Atalan- 
tis, and all its splendid cities and warlike nations, were swallowed 
up, and sunk to the bottom, which, spreading its waters over the 
chasm, added a vast region of water to the Atlantic ocean. For 
a long time, the sea was not navigable, on account of rocks and 
shoals of mud and slime, and of the ruins of that drowned coun- 
try." 

At the period, therefore, of the existence of this island, a land 
passage to America, from Europe and Africa, was practicable; 
also by other islands, some of which are still situated in the same 
direction — the Azores, Madeiras, and TenerifTe islands, about 
twenty in number. 

For this story of the island Atalantis, we are indebted to Irving's 
Columbus, a popular work of recent date; which account cannot 
be denied but is exceedingly curious, and not without foundation 
of probability. Was not this island the bridge, so called, reaching 
from America to Europe, as conjectured by Dr. Robertson, the 
historian, but was destroyed by the ocean, as he supposes, very 
far back in the ages of antiquity? 



86 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

And allusion to this same island, Atalantis, is made by Enclid, 
who flourished about three hundred years before Christ, in a con- 
versation which he had with Anacharsis, a Scythian philosopher 
of the same age, who had, in search of knowledge, travelled from 
the wilds of his own northern regions, to Athens, where he be- 
came acquainted with Euclid. 

Their subject was the convulsions of the globe. The sea, ac- 
cording to every appearance, said Euclid, has separated Sicily 
from Italy, Eulo&a from Boetia, and a number of other islands 
from the continent of Europe. We are informed, continued the 
philosopher, that the waters of Pontus Euxinus,(or the Black sea,) 
having been long enclosed in a basin or lake, shut in on all sides, 
and continually increasing by the rivers of Europe and Asia, rose 
at length above the highlands which surrounded it, forced open 
the passage of Bosphorus and Hellespont, and impetuously rush- 
ing into the iEgian or Mediterranean sea, extended its limits over 
the surrounding coasts. 

If we consult, he says, mythology, we are told that Hercules, 
whose labors have been confounded with those of nature, separa- 
ted Europe from Africa; by which is meant, no doubt, that the 
Atlantic ocean destroyed the isthmus which once united those two 
parts of the earth, and opened itself a communication with the 
Mediterranean sea. 

Beyond the isthmus, of which I have just spoken, said Euclid, 
existed, according to ancient traditions, an island as large as Af- 
rica, which, with all its wretched inhabitants, was swallowed up 
by an earthquake. 

Here, then, is another witness, of great weight, besides Solon 
and Plato, who testifies to the past existence of the island of Ata- 
lantis. 



Evidences of an Ancient Population in America, different 
from that of the Indians. 

We shall now attend more particularly to the evidences of an 
ancient population in this country, anterior to that of the present 



AND DISCOVERIS IN THE WEST. 87 

race of Indians, afforded in the discovery of forts, mounds, tu- 
muli, and their contents, as related by western travellers, and 
the researches of the Antiquarian Society, at Cincinnati. But 
before we proceed to an account of the traits of this kind of 
population, more than already given, we will remark, that, 
wherever plats of ground, struck out into circles, squares, and 
ovals, are found, we are at once referred to an era when a peo- 
ple and nation existed in this country, more civilized, refined, and 
given to architectural and agricultural pursuits, than are the In- 
dians. 

It is well known, the present tribes do not take the trouble of 
materially altering the face of the ground, to accommodate the 
erection of their places of dwelling; always selecting that which 
is already fashioned by nature to suit their views; using the earth 
where they build their towns, as they find it. 

In a deep and almost hidden valley, among the mountains of 
the Alleghany, on the road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, is one 
of those solitary memorials of an exterminated race. It is hid 
amidst the profoundest gloom of the woods, and is found to con- 
sist of a regular circle, a hundred paces in diameter. This is 
equal to six rods and four paces, and twenty- two rods in circum- 
ference. The whole plat is raised above the common level of the 
earth around, about four feet high; which may have been done to 
carry off the water, when the snows melted, or when violent rains 
would otherwise have inundated their dwellings, from the sur- 
rounding hills. 

The neighborhood of Brownville, or Redstone, in Pennsylvania, 
abounds with monuments of antiquity. A fortified camp, of a 
very complete and curious kind, on the ramparts of which is tim- 
ber of five feet in diameter, is found near the town of Brownville. 
This camp contains about thirteen acres, enclosed in a circle, the 
elevation of which is seven feet above the adjoining ground; this 
was a Herculean work. Within the circle a pentagon is accu- 
rately described; having its sides four feet high, and its angles 
uniformly three feet from the outside of the circle, thus leaving 
an unbroken communication all around. A pentagon is a figure, 
having five angles or sides. Each side of the pentagon has a 
postern or small gateway, opening into the passage between it and 
the circle; but the circle itself has only one grand gateway out- 



88 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ward. Exactly in the centre stands a mound about thirty feet 
high, supposed to have been a place of observation. At a small 
distance from this place, was found a stone, eight feet by five, on 
which was accurately engraved a representation of the whole 
work, with the mound in the centre; whereon was the likeness of 
a human head, which signified that the chief who presided there 
lay buried beneath it. The engraving on this stone, is evidence 
of the knowledge of stone cutting, as it was executed with a con- 
siderable degree of accuracy. 

On comparing the description of this circular monument with a 
description of works of a similar character, found in Denmark, 
Sweden and Iceland, the conclusion is drawn, that at some era of 
time the authors of this kind of monumental works, in either of 
those countries have been the same. 

" They are called Domh-ringr by the Danes; that is, literally, 
doom-ring, or, circle of judgment; being the solemn place where 
courts were held." The celebrated Stonehenge, in England, is 
built after the same fashion; that is, in a circle, and is of Belgic 
origin, the second class of English antiquities, the era of which 
precedes that of the Romans in England; which would throw the 
time of their first erection back to a period of some hundred years 
before Christ. 

" Stonehenge. — This noble and curious monument of early 
times, appears to have been formed by three principal circles of 
stone, the outer connected together by an uniform pavement, as 
it were, at the top, to which the chiefs might ascend and speak to 
the surrounding crowd. A second circle consists of detached 
upright stones, about five feet in height, while the highest are 
eighteen. Within this is a grand oval, consisting of five huge 
stones, crossed by another at the top, and enclosing smaller stones, 
which seem to have been seats, and a large flat stone, commonly 
called the altar, but which seems to have been the throne or seat 
of judgment. The whole of the above described monument, with 
all its apparatus, seems to be enclosed in the midst of a very ex- 
tensive circle, or embankment of earth, sufficiently large to hold 
an immense number — a whole tribe or nation." — (Morse.) 

After the introduction of Christianity into the west of Europe, 
which was sixty years after Christ, these circles of judgment, 
which had been polluted with human sacrifices, and other pagan 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 89 

rites, were abandoned, and other customs, with other places of 
resort, were instituted. TJiis sort of antiquities, says Morse, the 
geographer, which are found all over Europe, are of tlais charac- 
ter, that is, of the tumular kind, such as are found in the west of 
our]jown country, and belong entirely to the first era of the settle- 
ments of Europe. 

The Druidic temples in Europe were numerous, and some of 
them immense, especially one in the isle of Lewis. In these the 
gods Odin, Thor, Freyga, and other Gothic deities, were adored; 
all such structures were enclosed in circles, some greater and 
some less, according to their importance, or the numbers of those 
who supported them. 

The same kind of antiquities are fonnd in 'Ireland, and are al- 
lowed to be of Druidic origin, always enclosed in circles, whether 
a simple stone, or a more spacious temple, be the place where 
they worshipped The Scandinavians, who preceded the Norwe- 
gians some hundred years, enclosed their rude chapels with cir- 
cular intrenchments, and were called the Dane's Raths, or circu- 
lar intrenchments. 

" In the first ages of the world, after the flood the worship of 
God was exceedingly simple; there were no temples nor covered 
edifices of any kind. An altar, sometimes a single stone, some 
times it consisted of several, and at other times merely of turf, 
was all that was necessary. On this the fire was lighted, and the 
sacrifice offered. " — (Adam Clarke.) 

Such were the Druids of Europe, whose name is derived from 
the kind of forest in which they preferred to worship. This was 
the oak, which in the Greek is expressed by the word druid, whose 
worship and principles extended even to Italy, among the Celtic 
nations, and is celebratad by Virgil, in the sixth book of the 
Mneiad, where he speaks of the misletoe, and calls it the golden 
branch, without which no one could return from the infernal 
regions. 

The misletoe, an account of which may please the reader, is 
thus described by Pliny, who flourished about a. d. 23, and was a 
celebrated writer on natural history, and most learned of the an- 
cient Romans: 

"The Druids hold nothing more sacred than the misletoe, and 
the tree on which it grows, provided it be the oak. They make 



90 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

choice of groves of oak on this account; nor do they perform any 
of their sacred rites without the leaves of those trees. And when- 
ever they find it on the oak, they think it is sent from heaven, 
and is a sign that God himself has chosen that tree; and when- 
over found, is treated with great ceremony. 

"They call it by a name which, in their language, signifies 
the curer of ills; and having duly prepared their feasts and sacri- 
fices under the tree, they bring to it two white bulls. The priest, 
dressed in a white robe, ascends the tree, and with a golden prun- 
ing hook, cuts off the misletoe, which is received in a sagum, or 
white sheet. Then they sacrifice the victims, praying that God 
would bless his own gift to those on whom he has bestowed it." — 
( Clarke.) 



Discoveries on the Muskingum. 

In the neighborhood of Fort Harmer, on the Muskingum, oppo- 
site Marietta on the Ohio, were discovered, by Mr. Ash, an Eng" 
lish traveller, in the year 1826, several monuments of the ancient 
nations. 

" Having made, (says this traveller,) arrangements for an ab- 
scence of a few days from the fort, I provided myself with an ex- 
cellent tinder box, some biscuit and salt, and arming my Indian 
travelling companion, with a good axe and rifle, taking myself 
a fowling piece, often tried, and my faithful dog, I crossed the 
ferry of the Muskingum, having learned that the left hand side 
of that river was most accessible and the most abundant in curi- 
osities and other objects of my research." In another part of 
this work we shall describe works of a similar sort, on the oppo- 
site side of the Muskingum, as given by the Antiquarian Society 
of Ohio. 

" On traversing the valley between Fort Harmer and the moun- 
tains, I determined to take the high grounds, and after some diffi- 
culty, ascended an eminence which commanded a view of the 
town of Marietta, and of the river up and down, displaying a 
great distance along the narrow valley of the Ohio, cultivated 
plains, the gardens and popular walks of that beautiful town. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 91 

"After a very short inspection, and cursory examination, it was 
evident that the very spot or eminence on which I stood, had been 
occupied by the Indians, either as a place of observation, or a 
strong hold. The exact summit of the hill I found to be artificial; 
it expressed an oval, forty-five feet by twenty-three, and was 
composed apparently of earth and stone, though no stone of a simi- 
lar character appeared in that place. 

The base of the whole was girded round about by a wall of 
earth, in a state of too great decay to justify any calculation, and 
the whole was so covered with heavy timber, that I despaired of 
gaining any further knowledge, and would have left the place, 
had I not been detained by my Indian companion, whom I saw 
occupied in endavoring to introduce a pole into a small opening 
between two flat stones, near the root of a tree, which grew on 
the very summit of this emience. 

"The stones we found were too heavy to be removed by the 
mere power of hands. Two good oak poles were cut, in lieu of 
levers and crows. Clapping these into the orifice first dis- 
covered, we weighed a large flat stone_, tilting it over, when 
we each assumed a guarded position, in silent expectation of 
hearing the hissing of serpents, or the rustling of the ground- 
hog's litter; where the Indian had supposed was a den of one sort 
or the other. 

" All was silent. We resumed our labor, casting out a num- 
ber of stones, leaves and earth, soon clearing a surface of seven 
feet by five, which had been covered upwards of fifteen inches 
deep, with flat stones, principally lying against each other, with 
their edges to the horizon. 

" On the surface we had cleared, appeared another difficulty, 
which was a plain superfices, composed of but three flat stones of 
such apparent magnitude that the Indian began to think that we 
should find under them neither snake nor pig; but having once 
begun, I was not to be diverted from my task. 

" Stimulated by obstructions, and animated with other views 
than those of my companion, I had made a couple of hickory 
shovels with the axe, and setting to work, soon undermined the 
surface, and slid the stones off on one side, and laid the space 
open to view. 

" I expected to find a cavern: my imagination was warmed by 



92 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

a certain design I thought I discovered from the very beginning; 
the manner the stones were placed led me to conceive the exist- 
ence of a vault filled with the riches of antiquity, and crowded 
with the treasures of the most ancient world. 

" A bed of sand was all that appeared under these flat stones, 
which I cast off ; and as I knew there was no sand nearer than 
the bed of the Muskingum, as design was therefore the more 
manifest, which encouraged my proceeding; the sand was about 
a foot deep, which I soon removed. 

"The design and labor of man was now unequivocal. The 
space out of which these materials were taken, left a hollow in an 
oblong square, lined with stones on the end and sides, and also, 
paved on what appeared to be the bottom, with square stones^ of 
about nine inches diameter. 

" I picked these up with the nicest care, and again came to a 
bed of sand, which, when removed, made the vault about three 
feet deep, presenting another bottom or surface, composed of 
small square cut stones, fitted with such art, that I had much 
difficulty in discovering many of the places where they met. 
These displaced, I came to a substance, which, on the most criti- 
cal examination, I judged to be a mat, or mats, in a state of en- 
tire decomposition and decay. My reverence and care increased 
with the progress already made; I took up this impalpable powder 
with my hands, and fanned off the remaining dust with my hat, 
when there appeared a beautiful tesselated pavement of small, 
colored stones; the colors and stones arranged in such a manner 
as to express harmony and shades, and portraying, at full length, 
the figure of a warrior under whose feet a snake was exhibited 
in ample folds. 

" The body of the figures was composed of dyed woods, bones, 
and a variety of small bits of terrous and testaceous substances, 
most of which crumbled into dust on being removed and exposed 
to the open air. 

" My regret and disappointment were very great, as I had flat- 
tered myself that the whole was stone, and capable of being taken 
up and preserved. Little more, however, than the actual pave- 
ment could be preserved, which was composed of flat stones, one 
inch deep, and two inches square. The prevailing colors were 
white, green, dark blue, and pale spotted red; all of which are 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 93 

peculiar to the lakes, and not to be had nearer than about three 
hundred miles. 

" The whole was affixed in a thin layer of sand, fitted together 
with great precision, and covered a piece of bark in great decay, 
whose removal exposed what I was fully prepared to discover, 
from all previous indications, the remains of a human skeleton, 
which was of an uncommon magnitude, being seven feet in length. 
With the skeleton was found, first an earthen vessel, or urn, in 
which were several bones, and some white sediment. 

" The urn appeared to be made of sand and flint vitrified, and 
rung, when struck, like glass, and held about two gallons, had a 
top or cover of the same material, and resisted fire as completely 
as iron or brass. Second; a stone axe, with a groove round the 
pole, by which it had been fastened with a withe to the handle. 
Third; twenty-four arrow points, made of flint and bone, and 
lying in a position which showed they had belonged to a quiver. 
Fourth; a quantity of beads, but not of glass, round, oval, and 
square; colored green, black, white, blue and yellow. Fifth; a 
very large conch shell, decomposed into a substance like chalk; 
this shell was fourteen inches long, and twenty-three in circum- 
ference. The Hindoo priests, at the present time, use this sort 
of shell as sacred. It is blown to announce the celebration of 
religious festivals. Sixth; under a heap of dust and tenuous 
shreds of feathered cloth and hair, a parcel of brass rings, cut 
out of a solid piece of metal, and in such a manner that the rings 
were suspended from each other, without the aid of solder or any 
other visible agency whatever. Each ring was three inches in 
diameter, and the bar of the rings a half an inch thick, and were 
square; a variety of characters were deeply engraved on the sides 
of the rings, resembling the Chinese characters." 

Ward's History of the Hindoos, page 41 and 56, informs us, 
that the god Vishnoo is represented holding a sea shell in his hand, 
called the "sacred shell;" and, second, he states, that "the uten- 
sils employed in the ceremonies of the temple, are several dishes 
to hold the offerings, a hand bell, a lamp, jugs for holding water, 
an incense dish, a copper cup, a seat of Kooshu grass, for the 
priests, a large metal plate, used as a bell." Several of the arti- 
cles found buried in this manner, resemble these utensils of the 
Brahmin priests, while some are exactly like them. The mat of 



94 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Kooshu grass resembles the mat of hair and feathers; the earthen 
dish, the conch shell, are the very same in kind; the brass chain 
might answer instead of a bell, or iron plate to strike against, 
which would produce a jingling sound. A quantity of round, oval 
and square beads, colored variously, were found. Although Mr. 
Ward does not say that beads were a part of the utensils of the 
Hindoo priests, yet we find them on the necks and arms of both 
their gods and their mendicants. 

Pottery, of the same kind found in those ancient works, have 
also the quality of enduring the fire. The art of making vessels 
of clay, is very ancient; we find it spoken of by Jeremiah, the 
prophet, nearly three thousand years ago. 

The art of coloring wood, stones, and shells, with a variety of 
beautiful tints, was also known, as appears from the pavement 
above described, and the colored beads. 

In many parts of the west, paints of various colors have been 
found hidden in the earth. On the Chenango river, in the State 
of New-York, has recently been found, on opening of one of 
those ancient mounds, though of but small dimensions, three kinds 
of paint, black, red, and yellow; which are now in the posses- 
sion of a Dr. Willard, at the village of Greene, in the county of 
Chenango. 

The Indians of both China and America, have, from time im- 
memorial, used paints to adorn themselves and their gods. 

But the brass rings and tesselated pavement, are altogether the 
most to be wondered at. A knowledge of the method of manufac- 
turing brass was known to the antediluvians: this we learn from 
Genesis iv. 22. Tubal Cain was an artificer in brass and iron 
about eleven hundred years before the flood. 

But how this article, the brass chain, of such curious con- 
struction, came in the possession of the chief, interred on the 
summit of the mountain, is a question to be answered, it would 
seem, in but two ways. They either had a knowledge of the 
art of making brass, or the article was an item of that king's 
peculiar treasure ; and had been derived, either from his an- 
cestors, from the earliest ages, or from South America, as an ar- 
ticle of trade, a gift from some fellow king, or a trophy of some 
victorious battle over some Southern nation ; for, according to 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 95 

Humboldt, brass was found among the native Mexicans, in great 
abundance. 

But how the Mexicans came by this art in mineralogy, is equally 
a question. Gold, silver, copper, &c, are the natural product of 
their respective ores; and accident may have made them acquaint- 
ed with these; as iron was discovered among the Greeks, by fire 
in the woods having melted the ore. But brass is farther removed 
from the knowledge of man, being a composition of copper and f 
the calamine stone, or ore of zinc. However, it is said by Morse, 
that in Chili, in the hills of Huilquilemu, are found mines of na- 
tive brass, of a fine yellow color, and equally malleable with the 
best artificial brass; yet this is no common product of mineralogy, 
and would seem to be an exception, or rather a product extraordi- 
nary, and in a measure induces a belief that it is not proper brass, 
but a metal similar only in complexion, while perhaps its chemi- 
cal properties are entirely different, or it may have been produced 
by the fusion of copper and the ore of zuac, by the fire of some 
volcano. 

Brass was the metal out of which the ancient nations made all 
their instruments of war, and defensive armor. The reason of 
this preference above copper and iron, even by the Greeks and: 
Romans, was probably on account of the excessive bright polish 
it was capable of receiving; for the Greeks and Romans used it 
long after their knowledge of iron. Iron was discovered by the 
Greeks 1406 years before Christ. The ancient Americans must 
have derived a knowledge of brass from their early acquaintance 
with nations immediately succeeding the flood, who had it from 
the antediluvians, by way of Noah; and having found their way 
to this continent, before it became so insulated as it is at the pre- 
sent time, surrounded on all sides by oceans, made use of the same 
metal here. 

But the tesselated or spotted pavement is equally curious with 
the brass chain, on account of its resemblance to the Mosaic pave- 
ments of the Romans; being small pieces of marble, of various 
colors, with which they ornamented the fronts of their tents in time 
of war. This sort of pavement is often dug up in England, and 
is of Roman origin. 

We find the history of the ancient Britons, mentions the cur- 
rency of iron rings, as money, which was in use among them be- 



96 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

m 

fore the invasion of Julius Csesar. Is it not possible that the brass 
chain, or an assemblage of those rings, as found in this mound, 
may have been held among those ancients of America in the same 
estimation? The chain, in their mode of reckoning, being per- 
haps of an immense amount, its being found deposited with its 
owner, who was a chief or king, is the evidence of its peculiar 
value, whether it had been used as an article of trade, or as a 
sacred implement. 

This maculated pavement, arranged in such a manner as to 
represent, in full size, the chief, king, or monarch, who was in- 
terred beneath it, shows the knowledge that people had of paint- 
ing, sculpture, and descriptive delineation; but most of all, the 
serpent which lay coiled at his feet is surprising, because we sup- 
pose this transaction could not have happened from mere caprice, 
or the sport of imagination. 

It must have been a trait of their theology, and, possibly, an 
allusion to the serpent, by whose instrumentality Satan deceived 
the first woman, the mother of us all ; and its being beneath his 
feet, may also have alluded to the promised seed, who was to 
bruise the serpeni's head — all of which may easily have been 
derived from the family of Noah, and carried along with the 
millions of mankind, as they diverged asunder from Mount 
Ararat, around the earth. The Mexicans are found to have a 
clear notion of this thing, and of many other traits of the early 
history of man, as related in the Hebrew records and the Scrip- 
tures, preserved in their traditions and paintings, as we shall show 
in another place. 

The etching on the square sides of those rings of brass, in 
characters resembling the Chinese, shows the manufacturer, 
and the nation of which he was a member, to have had a know- 
ledge of engraving, even on the metals, equal with artists of the 
present time, of which the common Indian of the west knows 
nothing. 

The stone hatchet, flint, and bone arrow-points, found in this 
tomb, are no exclusive evidence that this was all done by the mo- 
dern Indians; because the same are found in vast profusion in all 
parts of the old world, particularly in the island of England, and 
have been in use from remotest antiquity. 

We are very far from believing the Indians]of the present time 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 97 

to be the most ancient aborigines of America; but, on the contra- 
ry, are usurpers; have, by force of bloody warfare, exterminated 
the original inhabitants* taking possession of their country, pro- 
perty, and, in some few instances, retaining arts, learned of those 
very nations. 

The immense sea shell, which was fourteen inches long, and 
twenty-three inches in circumference, found in this tomb, is evi- 
dence of this people's having an acquaintance with other parts of 
the world than merely their own dwellings, because the shell is a 
marine production, and the nearest place where this element is 
found from the Muskingum, is nearly a thousand miles in a 
straight line east to the Atlantic. 

If the engravings on this chain be, in fact, Chinese, or if they 
bear a strong and significant analogy to them, it justifies the 
opinion that the ancient Americans had a knowledge of letters. 
A knowledge of letters and of hieroglyphics existed before the 
time of Moses, as among the Egyptians and Phoenicians, but also 
before the flood. On this very interesting subject, see page 273 
of this work, in proof of the above. 

Nations of men, therefore, having, at an early period, found 
their way to this continent, if indeed it was then a separate con- 
tinent; consequently, to find the remains of such an art, scattered 
here and there in the dust and ashes of the nations of America 
passed away, is not surprising. 

The mound which we have described was apprehended, by Mr. 
Ash, to be only an advanced guard-post, or a place of look-out, in 
the direction of the Muskingum and the valley of the Ohio. Ac- 
cordingly, he wandered farther into the woods in a northwesterly 
direction, leaving on his right the Muskingum, whose course was 
northeast by southwest. His research in that direction had not 
long been continued before he discovered strong indications of the 
truth of his conjecture. He had come to a small valley between 
two mountains, through which a small creek meandered its way 
to the Muskingum. 

On either side of the stream were evident traits of a very large 
settlement of antiquity. They consisted, first, of a wall or ram- 
part of earth, of full nine feet perpendicular elevation, and 
thirty feet across the base. The rampart was of a semi-circular 
form, its entire circuit being three hundred paces, or something 



98 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

over eighteen rods, bounded by the creek. On the opposite side 
of the stream was another rampart of the same description, evi- 
dently answering to the first; these, viewed together, made one 
grand circle of more than forty rods circumference, with the 
creek running between. 

After a minute examination, he perceived, very visibly, the re- 
mains of elevated stone abutments, which being exactly opposite 
each other, suggested the belief that these bridges once connected 
the two semi-circles; one in the centre, and one on either side, or 
the extreme edges of the ring. The timber growing on the ram- 
part, and within the circle, was principally red oak, of great age 
and magnitude. Some of the trees, being in a state of decay, 
were not less than seven feet in diameter, and twenty-one in cir- 
cumference. 

Some considerable farther up the brook, at the spot where the 
beautiful vale commences, where the mountain rises abruptly and 
discharges from its cleft bosom this delightful creek, are a great' 
number of mounds of earth, standing at equal distances from 
each other, forming three grand circles, one beyond the other, 
cut in two by the creek, as the one described before, with 
streets situated between, forming, as do the mounds, complete cir- 
cles. Here, as at the other, the two half circles were united, as 
would appear, by two bridges, the abutments of which are still 
distinct. 

At a considerable distance, on the sides of the mountain, are 
two mounds or barrows, which are nearly three feet long, twelve 
high, and seventeen wide at the base. These barrows are com- 
posed principally of stone, taken out of the creek, on which are 
growing, also, very heavy timber. Here were deposited the dead, 
who had been the inhabitants of the town in the vale. From 
which it appears that the mounds forming those circles, which 
were sixty in number, are not tumuli, or the places where 
chiefs and distinguished warriors were entombed, but were the 
houses, the actual dwellings of the people who built them. How- 
ever, the distinguished dead were interred in tumuli of the same 
form frequently, but much more magnificent and lofty, and are 
fewer in number, situated on the highest grounds adjacent to their 
tov/ns. 

But it may be inquired, how could those mounds of earth have 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 



99 



ever been the dwellings of families ? There is but one way 
to explain it. They may have, at the time of their construc- 
tion, received their peculiar form, which is a conical, sugar-loaf 
form, by the erection of long poles, or logs, set up in a circle 
at the bottom, and brought together at the top, with an opening, 
so that the smoke might pass out. Against this, the earth (be- 
ing brought from a distance, so as not to disturb the even sur- 
face of the spot chosen to build on,) was thrown, till the top and 
sides were entirely enveloped. This operation would naturally 
cause the bottom, or base, to be of great thickness, caused by 
the natural sliding down of the earth, as it was thrown on or 
against the timbers; and this thickness would be in exact propor- 
tion with the height of the poles, at the ratio of an angle of forty- 
five degrees. 

In this way, a dwelling of the most secure description would be 
the result; such as could not be easily broken through, nor set on 
lire; and in winter would be warm, and in summer cool. It is 
true, such rooms would be rather gloomy, compared with the 
magnificent and well lighted houses of the present times, yet ac- 
corded well with the dark usages of antiquity, when mankind 
lived in clans and tribes, but few in number, compared with the 
present populousness of the earth, and stood in fear of invasion 
from their neighbors, in a state of perpetual distrust. 

Such houses as these, built in circles of wood at first, and lastly 
of stone, as the knowledge of architecture came on, were used by 
the ancient inhabitants of Britain, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, 
and on the continent, as in Norway. No mode of building which 
can be conceived of, would more effectually shut out the wind. 
" Houses of this form, made with upright stones, are even now 
common over all the Danish dominions." — (See Morse 7 s Geogra- 
phy, vol. 1, p. 158.) 

In the communication of Mr. Moses Fiske, of Hillham, Ten- 
nessee, to the American Antiquarian Society, 1815, respecting 
the remains and discoveries made relative to antiquities in the 
west, but especially in Tennessee, says, that the description of 
mounds, whether round, square or oblong in their shapes, which 
have flat tops, were the most magnificent sort, and seemed con- 
trived for the purpose of building temples and castles on their 

7* 



100 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

summits; which, being thus elevated, were very imposing, and 
might be seen at a great distance. 

" Nor must we," he continues, " mistake the ramparts, or for- 
tifications, for farming enclosures; what people, savage, or civil- 
ized, ever fenced their grounds so preposterously, bearing no pro- 
portion in quantity necessary for tillage;" from which the support 
of a whole country was expected; and further, there were many- 
neighborhoods which had no such accommodations. 

He has also discovered, that within the areas encompassed by 
these ramparts, are whole ranges of foundations, on which dwell- 
ing houses once stood, with streets running between, besides mounds 
and other works. 

"The houses generally stodd in rows, nearly contiguous to each 
other," as in all compact towns and cities, though sometimes they 
stood in an irregular and scattered manner. These foundations 
" are indicated by rings of earth, from three to five fathoms 
in diameter, which is equal to eighteen by thirty feet. The re- 
mains of these rings or foundations are from ten to twenty inches 
high, and a yard or more broad. But they were not always cir- 
cular ; some of which he had noticed were square, and others, 
also, of the oblong form, as houses are now built by civilized na- 
tions. , 

" The flooring of some is elevated above the common level or 
surface ; that of others is depressed. These tokens are indubita- 
ble, and overspread the country ; some scattered and solitary, but 
oftner in groups, like villages,, with and without being walled in." 
From which it is clear, that whoever they were, the pursuits of 
agriculture were indispensable, and were therefore in use with 
those nations. 

But as it respects the houses of earth, as found in the vale 
above noticed, on the creek running into the Muskisgum ; we 
can show from the writings of Vetruvius, who wrote on the sub- 
ject of architecture in the time of Julius Cossar, that this is not 
the only circumstance of the kind ; as follows: 

"At first, for the walls, men erected forked stakes, and dis- 
posing twigs between them, covered them with loam; others pulled 
up clods of hay, binding them with wood, and to avoid rain and 
heat, they made a covering with reeds and boughs ; but finding 
that this roof could not resist the winter rains they made it slop- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN WEST. 101 

ing, pointed at the top, plastering it over with clay, and by that 
means discharging the rain water. To this day, (say Vetruvius,) 
some foreign nations construct their dwellings of the same kind 
of materials, as in Gaul, Spain, Lusitania, and Aquitain. The 
Colchins, in the kingdom of Portugal, where they abound in 
forests, fix trees in the earth, close together in ranks^ to the right 
and left, leaving as much space between them, from corner to 
corner, as the length of the trees will permit ; upon the ends of 
these, at the corners, others are laid transversely, which circum-* 
elude the place of habitation in the middle ; then at the top, the 
four angles are braced together with alternate beams. The cre- 
vices, which are large, on account of the coarsenesss of the ma- 
terials, are stopped with chips and loam. The roof is also raised 
by beams laid across from the extreme angles, or corners, gradu- 
ally rising from the four sides to the middle point at the top, (ex- 
actly like a German barrack,) and then covered with bo'ughs and 
earth. In this manner the barbarians, (says this author,) made 
their roofs to their towers. 7 ' By the barbarians he means the in- 
habitants of Europe, at the time when he wrote these remarks, 
which was in the reign of Julius Csssar a short time before Christ. 

" The Phrygians, who inhabit a champaign country, being des- 
titue of timber, selected natural hills, excavate them by diging an 
entrance, and widen the space, within as much as the nature of the 
place will permit. Above, they fix stakes in a pyramidal form, 
bind them together, and cover them with reeds or straw, heaping 
thereon, great piles of earth. This kind of covering renders them 
very warm in winter and cool in summer. Some also cover the 
roofs of their huts with weeds of lakes; and thus, in all countries 
and nations, primeval dwellings are formed upon similar princi- 
ples."— (Blake's Atlas, p. 145./ 

Having this knowledge of the mode of ancient building, we are 
led to the conclusion, that the town which we have just given an 
account of, was a clan of some of the ancient Celtic nations, who, 
by some means, had found their way to this part of the earth, and 
had fixed their abode in this secluded valley. 

Celtic or Irish, as Mr. Morse says, who were derived from Gaul 
or Galatia, which is now France, who descended from Gomer, 
one of the sons of Japheth, a son of Noah; to whose descendants 
Europe, with its isles, was given. And whether the people who 
built this town were of Chinese or Celetic origin,, it is much the 



102 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

same; because, if we go far enough back in ages of past time, 
we shall find they were of the same origin, and had equal oppor- 
tunities to perpetuate a remembrance of the arts, as known among 
men immediately after the flood, and might therefore resemble 
each other in their works. 

Here, we may suppose, the gods Odin, Thor, and Frige, were 
adored under the oaks composing American forests, as taught by 
the Druids ; here their victims, the deer and buffalo, sent up to 
the skies their smoking odor from the altar of sacrifice, while the 
priests of the forest invoked the blessing of the beneficent Being 
upon the votaries of the mystic mistletoe. Here were the means 
of mutual defence and safety discussed; the sighs of the lover 
breathed on the winds; parents and children looked with kindness 
on each other; soothed and bound the wounds of such as return- 
ed from the uncertain fate of clanular battles; but have been swept 
with the besom of extermination from this vale, while no tongue 
remains to tell the story of their sufferings. 

At the distance of about three miles higher up, and not far from 
the Muskingum, says Mr. Ash, he perceived an eminence very 
similar to the one just described, in which the brass chain was 
found, to which he hastened, and immediately perceived their like- 
ness in form. 

On a comparison of the two, there could be but one opinion, 
namely, that both were places of lookout, for the express protection 
of the settlement in the valley. He says he took the pains of 
clearing the top of the eminence, but could not discover any stone 
or mark which might lead to a supposition of its being a place of 
interment. The country above was hilly, yet not so high as to 
intercept the view for a presumed distance of twenty miles. 

On these eminences the beacon fires of the clan who resided in 
the valley may have been kindled at the hour of midnight, to show 
those who watched the portentous flame, the advance or destruc- 
tion of an enemy. Such fires, on the heights of Scotland, were 
wont to be kindled in the days of Bruce and Wallace, and ages 
before their time, originated from the Persians, possibly, who 
worshipped in this way the great Oramaze, as the god who made 
all things. The idea of a Creator was borrowed from Noah, who 
received the account of the creation from Seth, who had it from 
Adam, and Adam from the Almighty himself. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 103 

From this excursion, our traveller, after having returned to 
Marietta, pursued his way to Zanesville, on the Muskingum river, 
where, learning from the inhabitants that the neighborhood was 
surrounded with the remains of antiquity, he proceeded to the ex- 
amination of them, having obtained a number of persons to ac- 
company him with the proper implements of excavation. They 
penetrated the woods in a westerly direction, to a place known to 
those who accompanied him, about five miles distance, where the 
ruins of ancient times were numerous and magnificent in the high- 
est degree ; consisting of mounds, barrows and ramparts, but of 
such variety and form, and covering so immense a track of ground 
that it would have taken at least ten days to have surveyed them 
minutely. 

These immense works of the ancients, it appears, were, in this 
place, encompassed by outlines of an entirely different shape from 
any other described, being of the triangular form, and occupying 
the whole plain, situated as the one before described, in a place 
nearly surrounded by mountains. 

But we pass over many incidents of this traveller, and come 
immediately to the object of his research, which was to open such 
of those mounds as might attract his attention. His first opera- 
tion was to penetrate the interior of a large barrow, situated at 
one extremity of the vale, which was its southern. Three feet 
below the surface was fine mould, underneath which were small 
flat stones, lying in regular strata or graver, brought from the 
mountain in the vicinity. This last covered the remains of a hu- 
mane frame, which fell into powder when touched and exposed to 
air. 

Towards the base of the barrow, he came to three tiers of sub- 
stances, placed regularly in rotation. And as these formed two 
rows four deep, separated by little more than a flag stone between 
the feet of one and the head of another, it was supposed the bar- 
row contained about 2000 human skeletons, in a- very great state 
of decay, which shows their extreme antiquity. 

In this search was found a well carved stone pipe, expressing a 
bear's head, together with some fragments of pottery, of fine tex- 
ture. Near the centre of the whole works, another opening was 
effected, in a rise of ground, scarcely higher than a natural un- 
dulation, common to the general surface of the earth, even on 



104 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ground esteemed to be level. But there was one singularity ac- 
companying the spot, which attracted the attention of the company, 
and this was, there was neither shrub nor tree on the spot, 
although more than ninety feet in circumference, but was adorn- 
ed with a multitude of pink and purple flowers. 

They came to an opinion that the rise of ground was artificial, 
and as it differed in form and character from the common mounds, 
they resolved to lay it open, which was soon done, to a level with 
the plain, but without the discovery of any thing whatever. But 
as Ash had become vexed, having found nothing to answer his 
expectations in other openings on the spot, he jumped from the 
bank, in order to take a spade, and encourage the men to dig 
somewhat deeper. At this instant the ground gave way, and in- 
volved the whole company in ruin, as was supposed for the mo- 
ment, but was soon followed by much mirth and laughter, as no 
person was hurt by the fall, which was but about three feet. 

Ash had great difficulty to prevail on any person to resume the 
labor, and had to explore the place himself, and sound it with a 
pole, before any man would venture to aid him further, on ac- 
count of their fright. 

But they soon resumed their courage, and on examination found 
that a parcel of timbers had given way, which covered the orifice 
of a hole seven feet by four, and four feet deep. That it was a 
sepulchre, was unanimously agreed, till they found it in vain to 
look for bones, or any substance similar to them, in a state of de- 
composition. They soon, however, struck an object which would 
neither yield to the spade, nor emit any sound ; but persevering 
still further, they found the obstruction which was uniform through 
the pit, to proceed from rows of large spherical bodies, at first 
taken to be stones. 

Several of them were cast up to the surface; they were exactly 
alike, perfectly round, nine inches in diameter, and of about 
twenty pounds weight. The superfices of one, when cleaned and 
scraped with knives, appeared like a ball of base metal, so strong- 
ly impregnated with the dust of gold, that the baseness of the metal 
itself was nearly altogether obscured. On this discovery, the 
clamour was so great, and joy so exuberant, that no opinion but 
one was admitted, and no voice could be heard, while the cry of 
" 'tis gold! 'tis gold!" resounded through the groves. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE AVE6T. 10& 

Having to a man determined on this important point, they form- 
ed a council respecting the distribution of the treasure, and each 
individual, in the joy of his heart, declared publicly the use he in- 
tended to make of the part allotted to his share. 

The Englishman concluded that he would return to England, 
being sure, from experience,, that there was no country like it. A 
German of the party said, he would never have quitted'the Rhine, 
had he/ had money enough to rebuild his lam, which was blown 
down by a high wind ; but that he would return to the very spot 
from whence he came, and prove to his neighbors that he loved 
his country as well as any man, when he had the means of doing 
well. An Irishman swore a great oath, the day longer he'd stay 
in America; and the Indian who accompanied Ash, appeared to 
think, that were he to purchase some beads, rum and blankets, 
and return to his own nation, he might become Sachem, and keep 
the finest squaws to be found. 

Even Ash himself saw in the treasure the sure and ample means 
of continuing his travels in such parts of the earth as he had not 
yet visited. The company returned to Zanesville with but one 
ball of their riches, while they caretully hid the residue, till they 
should subject it to the ordeal of fire. 

They soon procured a private room, where, while it was receiv- 
ing the trial of fire, they stood around in silence almost dreading 
to breathe. The dreadful element, which was to confirm or con- 
sume their hopes, soon began to exercise its various powers. In 
a few moments the ball turned black, filled the room with sulphu- 
rous smoke, emitted sparks and intermittent flames, and hurst into 
ten thousand pieces; so great was the terror and suffocation, that 
all rushed into the street, and gazed on each other, with a mixed 
expression of doubt and astonishment. 

The smoke subsided, when they were able to discover the ele- 
ments of the supposed gold, which consisted of some very fine 
ashes, and a great quantity of cinders, exceedingly porous ; the 
balls were nothing but a sort of metal called spririte or pyrites, 
composed of sulphur and iron, and abounds in the mountains, of 
that region. 

The triangular form of this enclosure, being different from the 
general form of those ancient works, is perhaps worthy of notice, 
merely on the account of its form; and might be supposed to be 



106 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

of Chinese origin, as it is well known that the triangular shape is 
a favorite one of the nations of Hindostan; it is even in the Hin- 
doo theology, significant of the Trinity, of their great Brahma, or 
god; and on this account, might even characterise the form of na- 
tional works such as we have just described, under the notion, that 
the divine protection would the more readily be secured. " One 
of the missionaries at Pekin," says Adam Clarke, " takes it for 
granted, that the mystery of the Trinity was known among the 
ancient Chinese, as that this A character was its symbol. It is re- 
markable that Moses and the prophets, the ancient, Chaldee, Tar- 
gumists, the authors of the Zend Avesta, a Chinese book, Plato, a 
-celebrated philosopher of antiquity, who died at Athens, 348 years 
B. C, and also the first philosopher of Greece, and Philo the Jew, 
should all coincide so perfectly in their ideas of a Trinity in the 
Godhead. This could not be the effect of accident. The patri- 
archs, Moses and the prophets received this from God himself; and 
all others have borrowed from this first origin." 

For what use the balls of which we have given an account 
were designed, is impossible to conjecture, whether to be thrown 
by means of engines, as practised by the Romans, as an instru- 
ment of warfare, or a sort of medium in trade, or were used 
as instruments, in athletic games, either to roll or heave, who 
can tell? 

But one thing respecting them is not uncertain, they must have 
been of great value, or so much labor and care would not have 
been expended to secure them. Colonel Ludlow, of Cincinnati, 
•a man, it is said, who was well versed in the history of his 
country, though now deceased, was indefatigable in his researches 
after the antiquities of America, discovered several hundreds of 
those balls of pyrites, weighing generally about twenty pounds 
each, near an old Indian settlement, on the banks of the Little 
Miami, of the Ohio, and also another heap in an artificial cave, 
on the banks of the Sciota, consisting of copper pyrites, or 
quartz. 

In that division of South America, called Patagonia, which ex- 
tends nearly to the extreme southern point of that country, is 
found a people, denominated Patagonians, who are of a mon- 
strous size and height, measuring from six to seven feet, many 
of them approaching to eight. Among this people is found an 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 107 

instrument of war made of heavy stones, wore round by fric- 
tion; so that in appearance, they are like a cannon ball. These 
they contrive to fasten in a sling, from which they throw them 
with great dexterity and force.- — Morse's Geography. 

This kind of ball was used, though of a smaller size, to capture 
and kill animals with. The manner of using them is as follows: 
They take three of those balls, two of them three inches, and one 
of them two inches in diameter. The hunter takes the small ball 
in his left hand, and swings the other two, (which are connected 
by a thong of a proper length, to the one in his hand) round his 
head, till a sufficient velocity is acquired, at the same time taking 
aim, when they are thrown at the legs of the animal he is pur- 
suing, in such a manner as to entangle its feet by the rotary 
motion of the balls; so that its capture is easy. 

Conjecture might go on to establish it as a fact, that these balls 
of pyrites, found in many parts of the west, were indeed a war- 
like instrument, thrown by a sling, out of which, a force almost 
equivalent to that of powder, might be acquired ; and from the 
top of mounds, or from the sides of their elevated forts, sue-h^a 
mode of defence would be very terrible. 

This mode of fighting was known to the Hebrews. David slew 
Goliah with a stone from a sling. Seven hundred chosen men 
out of Gibea, could sling a stone at an hair's breadth. Job speaks, 
of this manner of annoying wild beasts, where he is recounting 
the strength of Leviathan: " Slinged stones are turned with him 
into stubble." ■ %g&tf> 

Dr. Adam Clarke's observation on the use and force of the 
sling, are very interesting, and pertinent to the subject. They 
are found in his Commentary, 1st Samuel, chap. xvii. verse 40, 
" The sling, both among the Greeks and Hebrews, has been a 
most powerful, offensive weapon. It is composed of two strings 
and a leather strap;" (or as among the Patagonians, of raw-hide,) 
** the strap is in the middle, and is the place where the stone or 
bullet lies. The string on one end of the strap is firmly fastened 
to the hand; that on the other, is held between the thumb and mid- 
dle joint of the fore finger. It is then whirled two or three times 
round the head; and when discharged, the finger and thumb let 
go their hold of the string. The velocity and force of the sling 
is in proportion to the distance of the strap to where the bullet 



108 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

lies, from the shoulder joint. Hence, the ancient Balleares, or 
inhabitants of Majorca and Minorca, islands in the Mediterranean 
sea, near the coast of Spain, are said to have had three slings 
of different lengths ; the longest they used when the enemy was 
at the greatest distance; the middle one on their nearer approach, 
and the shortest, when they came into the ordinary fighting dis- 
tance in the field. The shortest is the most certain, though not 
the most powerful. 

"The Balleareans are said to have one of their slings con- 
stantly bound about their head; to have used the second as a 
girdle; and to have carried the third always in their hand. 

" In the use of the sjing, it requires much practice-to hit the 
mark; but when once this dexterity is acquired, the sling is nearly 
as fatal as the ball thrown by the explosion of powder. 

" David was evidently an expert marksman; and his sling gave 
him greatly the advantage over Goliah; an advantage of which 
the giant does not seem to have been aware. He could hit him 
within any speaking distance; if he missed once, he had as many 
chances as he had stones; and after all, being unincumbered with 
armor, young and athletic, he could have saved his life by flight. 
But David saved himself the trouble of running away, or the giant 
from throwing his spear or javelin at him, by giving him the first 
blow, which placed something more solid in his brain than he had 
been accustomed to. 

" Goliah was terribly armed, having a spear, a shield, and a 
sword; besides, he was every where invulnerable, on account of 
his helmet of brass, his coat of mail, which was made also of 
brass, in little pieces, about the size of a half dollar, and lapped 
over each other, like the scales of fishes, so that no sword, spear, 
nor arrow could hit him." 

This coat of mail, when polished and bright, was very glorious 
to look upon, especially when the sun, in his brightness, bent his 
beams to aid the giant warrior's fulgent habiliments to illumine 
the field of battle, as the wearer strode, here and there, among 
the trophies of his arm. 

The only spot left, where he could be hit to advantage, was 
his broad giant forehead, into which the stone of David sunk, 
from its dreadful impetus received from the simple sling. To 
some, this has appeared perfectly improbable; but we are assured 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 109 

by ancient writers, that scarcely any thing could resist the force 
of the sling. 

Diodorus Siculus, an historian who flourished in the time of 
Julius Ccesar, a short time before Christ, and was born in the 
island of Sicily, in the Mediterranean, says, " the people of the 
islands of Minorca and Majorca, in time of war, could sling 
greater stones than any other people, and with such force, that 
they seemed as if projected from a capult," an engine used by 
the ancients for this purpose. 

Therefore, in assaults made on fortified towns, they grieviously 
wound the besieged, and in battle, they break in pieces the shields, 
helmets, and every species of armor, by which the body is de- 
fended. It would seem, from the expertness of the Patagonians, 
evinced in the use of the sling, that they may have been derived 
from the ancient inhabitants of those islands, who could as easily 
have found their way out of the Mediterranean by the strait of 
Gibraltar into the Atlantic ocean, and be driven across to South 
America, by the winds from the east, or by the current of the sea 
as were the Egyptians, as we shall soon show. 

The sling was a very ancient warlike instrument; and in the 
hands of those who were skilled in the use of it, it produced as- 
tonishing effects. The people of the above named islands were 
the most celebrated slingers of antiquity. They did not permit 
their children to eat till they had struck down their food from the 
top of a pole, or some distant eminence. 

Concerning the velocity of the leaden ball thrown out of the 
sling, it is said by the ancients, to have melted in its course. 
Ovid, the Roman poet, has celebrated its speed, in the following 
beautiful verse: — 

" Hermes was fired, as in the clouds he hung; 
So the cold bullet that with fury slung 
From Balearic engines, mounts on high, 
Glows in the whirl, and burns along the sky." 

Seneca, the stoic philosopher of Rome, born a. d. 12, says the 
same .thing; "the ball projected from the sling, melts, and is 
liquified by the friction of the air, as if it were exposed to the 
action of fire." 

Vegetius, who lived in the 14th century, and was also a Roman, 
tells us, that " slingers could, in general, hit the mark at six hun 



110 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

dred feet distance," which is more than thirty rods. From this 
view we see what havoc the western nations, using the sling or 
engine, to throw stones from their vast forts and mounds, must 
have made, when engaged in war. 



Discovery of the Remains of Ancient Pottery. 

On the subject of pottery we remark, that the remains of this 
art are generally found, especially of any extent, in the neighbor- 
hood of salt springs. It is true, that specimens of earthen ware 
are frequently taken out of the ancient barrows of the dead, and 
also are frequently brought to sight on the shores of rivers, where 
the earth has been removed by inundations. 

A few years since, an instance of this sort occurred at Ta- 
wanda, in Pennsylvania. The Susquehannah had risen very high, 
at the time we are speaking of, and had undermined the bank on 
the Tawanda shore, to a considerable extent, at the high water 
mark. On the receding of the waters, the bank was found to be 
carried away for the distance of about six rods, when there ap- 
peared several fire places, made of the stones of the river, with 
vessels of earthen, of a capacity about equal with a common water 
pail, in a very good state of preservation. 

Between those fire places, which were six in number, were 
found the skeletons of several human beings, lying in an undis- 
turbed position, as if they, when living, had fallen asleep, and 
never waked; two of these, in particular, attracted attention, and 
excited not a little surprise; they were lying side by side, with 
the arm of one of them under the neck of the other, and the feet 
were mingled in such a manner as to induce the belief that when 
death came upon them, they were asleep in each other's em- 
braces. But in what manner they came to their death, so that 
they appeared not to have moved, from the fatal moment till the 
bank was carried away, which had covered them for ages, is 
strange indeed. 

It cannot be supposed they died all at once, of some sickness, 
or that am cnetny surprised them while fcjeeping, and, silently 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. lit 

passing from couch to couch, inflicted the deadly blow; because, 
in any of these ways their bones, in the convulsions of dissolu- 
tion, must have been deranged, so that the image and peaceful 
posture of sleepers could not have characterised their positions, 
as they were found to have. It was conjectured, at the time of 
their discovery, that the period of their death had been at the sea- 
son of the year when that river breaks up its ice; in March or 
April, the river they supposed, may have been dammed up below 
them, where, it is true, the stream narrows on the account of the 
approach of the mountains. Here the ice having jammed in be- 
tween, caused a sudden rise of the river, and setting back, over- 
flowed them. 

But this cannot be possible, as the noise of the breaking ice 
would never allow them to sleep; this operation of nature is ac- 
companied with a tremendous uproar tearing and rending the 
shores and forests that grow on them, multiplying crash on crash, 
with the noise of thunder. Neither can it be well supposed, the 
waters came over them in the way suggested, even if they had 
slept during the scene we have just described, because on the first 
touch of the waters to their bodies, they would naturally spring 
from their sleep in surprise. 

Something must have happened that deprived them of life and 
motion in an instant of time. This is not impossible, because at 
Herculaneum and Pompeii, are found, where, in digging, they 
have penetrated through the lava down to those ancient cities, 
laying bare streets, houses and temples, with their contents, such 
as have survived the heat which ruined those cities — skeletons, 
holding between their fingers something they had in their hands 
at the moment of their death, so that they do not appear even to 
have struggled. 

Something of the same nature, as it respects suddenness, must 
have overtaken these sleepers; so that their natural positions were 
not disturbed. If the place of their dwellings had been skirted 
by a steep bank or hill, it might then have been supposed that a 
land slip or mine spring, had buried them alive, but this is not 
the case. They were about four feet under ground, the soil which 
covered them was the same alluvial with the rest of the flat; it is 
a mystery, and cannot be solved, unless we suppose an explosion 
of earth, occasioned by compressed air or gas, which, bursting 
the earth near them, suddenly buried them alive. 



112 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Dr. Beck, the author of the Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri, 
suggests the cause of the earthquakes, in the valley of the Mis- 
sissippi, in 1811 and 1812, which, in many places, threw up in an 
instant vast heaps of earth, to have been the principle of galvan- 
ism bursting from the depths beneath, in a perpendicular direction, 
overwhelming, in a moment of time^ whatever might be asleep or 
awake, wherever it fell. 

Further down the Susquehannah, some thirty or forty miles be- 
low Tawanda, at a place called the Black-walnut Bottom, on the 
farm of a Mr. Kinney, was discovered a most extraordinary 
specimen of pottery. 

Respecting this discovery, the owner of the farm relates, as 
we are informed by a clergyman, who examined the article on 
the spot, though in a broken state, that soon after the first settle- 
ments on that river, and especially on that farm, a great freshet 
took place which tore a channel in a certain direction across the 
flat, when the vessel which we are about to describe, was brought 
to light. 

It was twelve feet across the top, and of consequence thirty-six 
feet in circumference, and otherwise of proportionable depth and 
form. Its thickness was three inches, and appeared to be made 
of some coarse substance, probably mere clay, such as might be 
found on the spot, as it was not glazed. Whoever its makers 
were, they must have manufactured it on the spot where it was 
found, as it must have been impossible to move so huge a vessel. 
They may have easily effected its construction by building it up 
by degrees, with layers put on in succession, till high enough to 
suit the enormous fancy of its projectors, and then by piling wood 
around, it might have been burnt so as to be fit for use, and then 
propped up by stones, to keep it from falling apart. 

But who can tell for what use this vast vessel was intended? 
Conjecture here is lost; no ray of light dawns upon this strange 
remnant of antiquity. One might be led to suppose it was made 
in imitation of the great laver in the court of Solomon's Temple, 
which was seventeen feet two inches in diameter, and fifty-two 
feet six inches in circumference, and eight feet nine inches 
deep. — (II Chronicles, iv. 2.) 4 

The discovery of this vast specimen of earthen ware, is, at any 
rate, a singularity, and refers to some age of the world when the 






AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 113 

•inhabitants used very large implements of husbandry. If there 
had been in its neighborhood a salt spring, as there are often 
found farther west, we should not be at a loss to know for what 
purpose it was constructed. 

Remarkable specimens of pottery are often brought up from 
very great depths at the salt works in Illinois. Entire pots of a 
very large capacity., holdiug from eight to ten gallons, have been 
disinterred from the amazing depth of eighty feet ; others have 
been found at even greater depths, and of greater dimensions. — 
Schoolcraft, 

Upon this subject this author makes the following remark: — 
•" If these antique vessels are now supposed to lie in those depths 
where they were anciently employed, the surface of the Ohio, 
•and consequently of the Mississippi, must have been sixty or 
eighty feet lower than they are at present, to enable the saline 
water to drain off; and the ocean itself must have stood at a lower 
level, or extended in an elongated gulf up the present valley of 
the Mississippi." 

Many are of the opinion, that much of this regioa of country 
once lay beneath large lakes of water, and that the barriers be- 
tween them and the ocean, by some means were broken down, 
when a rush of water swept the whole country, in its course to 
the sea, burying all the ancient nations, with their works, at those 
depths beneath the surface as low as where those fragments of 
earthern ware are found. The bottom of those lakes is also sup- 
posed to be the true origin of the immense prairies of the west; 
and the reason why they are not, long since grown over with 
forest trees, is supposed to be because, from the rich and mucky 
soil found at the bottom of those lakes, a grass of immense length, 
ten and fourteen feet high, peculiar to the prairies, immediately 
sprung up before trees could take root, and therefore hindred this 
effort of nature. And as a reason why forest trees have not been 
able to gain upon the prairies, it is alleged, the Indians annually 
burn these boundless meadows, which ministers to their perpetuity. 
Some of those prairies are hundreds of miles in length and 
breadth, and in burning over, present, in the night, a spectacle 
-too grand, sublime and beautiful for adequate description: belting 
ihe horizon with a rim of fire, the farthest verge of which seem 

8 



114 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

dipped in the immeasurable distance, so that even contemplation 5< 
in its boldest efforts, is swallowed up and rendered powerless. 



A Catacomb of Mummies found in Kentucky. 

Lexington, in Kentucky, stands nearly on the site of an an- 
cient town, which was of great extent and magnificence, as is 
amply evinced by the wide range of its circumvallatory works, 
and the quantity of ground it once occupied. 

' There was connected with the antiquities of this place, a cata- 
comb, formed in the bowels of the limestone rock, about fifteen 
feet below the surface of the earth, adjacent to the town of Lex- 
ington. This grand object, so novel and extraordinary in this 
country, was discovered in 1775, by some of the first settlers,, 
whose curiosity was excited by something remarkable in the 
character of the stones which covered the entrance to the cavern 
within. They removed these stones, and came to others of singu- 
lar appearance for stones in a natural state; the removal of which 
laid open the mouth of a cave, deep, gloomy, and terrific, as they 
supposed. 

With augmented numbers, and provided with light, they de- 
scended and entered, without obstruction, a spacious apartment ; 
the sides and extreme ends were formed into niches and compart- 
ments, and occupied by figures representing men. When alarm 
subsided, and the sentiment of dismay and surprise permitted fur- 
ther research and inquiry, the figures were found to be mummies, 
preserved by the art of embalming, to as grest a state of perfec- 
tion as was known among the ancient Egyptians, eighteen hundred 
years before the Christian era; which was about the time that the 
Israelites were in bondage in Egypt, when this art was in its per- 
fection. 

Unfortunately for antiquity, science, and every thing else held 
sacred by the illumined and learned, this inestimable discovery 
was made at a period when a bloody and inveterate war was car- 
ried on between the Indians and the whites : and the power of 
the natives was displayed in so savage a manner, that the whites 
were filled with revenge. Animated by this vindictive spirit, the 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 115 

discoverers of the catacomb delighted to wreak their vengeance 
even on the mummies, supposing them to be of the same Indian 
race with whom they were then at war. 

They dragged them out to the open air, tore the bandages open, 
kicked the bodies into dust, and made a general bonfire of the most 
ancient remains antiquity could boast. The descent to this caver 
is gradual, the width four feet, the height seven, and the wnp 
length of the catacomb was found to be eighteen rods and a half 
by six and a half; and calculating from the niches and shelvings 
on the sides, it was sufficiently capacious to have contained at 
least two thousand subjects. 

I could never, says Mr. Ash, from whose travels we have taken 
this account, learn the exact quantity it contained ; the answers 
to the inquiries which he made respecting it were, "O, they burnt 
up and destroyed hundreds !" Nor could he arrive at any know- 
ledge of the fashion, manner, and apparel of the mummies, or re- 
ceive any other information than that they "were well lapped up," 
appeared sound, and consumed in the fire with a rapid flame. 
But not being contented with the uncertain information of per- 
sons, who, it seems, had no adequate knowledge of the value of 
this discovery, he caused the cavern to be gleamed for such frag- 
ments as yet remained in the niches, on its shelving sides and from 
the floor. The quantity of remains thus gathered up, amounted 
to forty or fifty baskets, the dust of which was so light and pungent 
as to affect the eyes even to tears, and the nose to sneezing, to a 
troublesome degree. 

He then proceeded on a minute investigation, and separated 
from the general mass several pieces of human limbs, fragments 
of bodies, solid, sound, and apparently capable of eternal duration 
In a cold state they had no smell whatever, but when submitted to 
the action of fire, gave out an agreeable effluvia, but was like no- 
thing in its fragrance to which he could compare it. 

On this subject Mr. Ash has the following reflections : u Flow 
these bodies were enbalmed, how long preserved, by what nations, 
and from what people descended, no opinion can be formed, nor 
any calculation made, but what must result from speculative fancy 
and wild conjecture. For my part, I am lost in the deepest igno- 
rance. My reading affords me no knowledge, my travels no light. 
I have neither read nor known of any of the North American In- 



116 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

dians who formed catacombs for their dead, or who were ac- 
quainted with the art of preservation by embalming. 

The Egyptians, according to Herodotus, who flourished 450 
years before Christ, had three methods of embalming; but Diodo- 
rus, who lived before Christ, in the time of Julius Csesar, observes, 
that the ancient Egyptians had a fourth method of far greater su- 
periority. That method is not described by Diodorus ; it had 
become extinct in his time ; and yet I cannot think it presumptu- 
ous to conceive that the American mummies were preserved 
after that very manner, or at least with a mode of equal virtue and 
effect." 

The Kentuckians asserted, that the features of the face and 
the form of the whole body were so well preserved, that they 
must have been the exact representations of the once living sub- 
jects. 

This cavern, indeed, is similar to those found in Egypt, where 
the once polished and powerful inhabitants bestowed their dead, 
wrapped up in the linens, spices, and aromatics of that country. 
It is probable that the cave where these were found was partly 
natural and partly artificial. Having found it suitable to their 
purpose, they had opened a convenient descent, cleared out the 
stones and rocks, and fitted it with niches for the reception of those 
they had embalmed. 

This custom, it would seem, is purely Egyptian, and was prac- 
tised in the earliest age of their national existence, which was 
about two thousand years before Christ. Catacombs are numerous 
all over Egypt, vast excavations under ground, with niches in 
their sides for their embalmed dead, exactly such as the one we 
have described. 

Shall' we be esteemed presumptuous, if we hazard the opinion 
that the people who made this cavern and filled it with the thou- 
sands of their embalmed dead were, indeed, from Egypt ? If they 
were not, whither shall we turn for a solution of this mystery % 
To what country shall we travel ? where are the archives of past 
ages, that shall shed its light here % 

If the Egyptians were indeed, reckoned as theirs* of nations ; 
for so are they spoken of, even in the Scriptures : if from them 
was derived the art of navigation, the knowledge of astronomy, 
in a great degree, with many other arts, of use to human society; 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 117 

such as architecture, agriculture, with the science of government, 
&c; why not allow the authors of the antiquated works about 
Lexington, (together with the immense catacomb as evidence,) to 
have been, indeed, an Egyptian colony; seeing the art of embalm- 
ing, which is peculiarly characterestic of that people, was found 
there in a state of perfection not exceeded by the mother country 
itself. 

A trait of national practices so strong and palpable, as is this 
peculiar art, should lead the mind, without hesitation, to a belief, 
that wherever the thing is practised, we have found in its authors 
either a colony direct from Egypt, or the descendants of some na- 
tion of the countries of Africa acquainted with the art. 

But if this be so, the question here arises., how came they in 
America, seeing the nearest point of even South America ap- 
proaches no nearer to the nearest point of Africa, than about 
seventeen hundred miles? Those points are, first, on the Ameri- 
can side, Cape St. Roque; and, second, on the African side, Cape 
de Verd. 

But such is the mechanism of the globe, and the operation of 
the waters, that from the west coast of Africa there is a constant 
current of the sea setting toward South America, so that if a ves- 
sel were lost, or if an eastern storm had driven it far into the 
ocean or South Atlantic, it would naturally arrive at last on the 
American coast. This is supposed to have been the predicament 
of the fleet of Alexander the Great, some hundred years before 
the Christian era, as we have before related. The cause of this 
current is doubtless, the flow of the waters of the Mediterranean 
.nto the Atlantic ; the, Miditerranean being fed by a vast number 
of the rivers of Europe. 

The next inquiry to be pursued, is, whether the Egyptians were 
ever a maritime people, or rather, anciently so, sufficient for our 
purpose? By consulting ancient history, we find it mentioned that 
the Egyptians, as early as fourteen hundred and eight-five years 
before Christ, had shipping, and that one Danus, with his fifty 
daughters, sailed into Greece, and anchored at Rhodes; which is 
three thousand, three hundred and twenty years back from the 
present year, 1835. Eight hundred and eighty-one years after 
the landing of this vessel at Rhodes, we find the Egyptians, under 
the direction of Necho, their king fitting out some Phoenicians 
with a vessel, or fleet, with orders to sail from the Red sea, quite 



118 "AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

around the continent of Africa, and to return by the Miditerran- 
ean, which they effected. 

It is easy to pursue the very track they sailed, in order to cir- 
cumnavigate Africa; sailing from some port on the Red sea, 
they pass down to the strait of Babelmandel, into the Indian 
ocean; thence south, around the Cape of Good Hope, into the 
South Atlantic ; — thence north along the African coast on the 
west side, which would carry them along opposite, or east of 
South America. 

Pursuing this course, they would pass into the Mediterranean 
at the strait of Gibraltar, and so on to Egypt, mooring at Alex- 
ndria, on the south end of the Mediterranean; a voyage of more 
han sixteen thousand miles; two-thirds of the distance round the 
earth. Many ages after their first settlement in Egypt, they were 
the leading nation in maiitime skill and other arts. 

It is true, that a knowledge of the compass and magnet, as aids 
to navigation, in Africa or Europe, was unknown in those early 
ages; but to counterbalance this defect, they were, from necessity, 
much more skilful in a knowledge of the heavenly bodies, as 
guides to their courses, than men are at the present day. But in 
China, it is now believed that a knowledge of the magnet, and its 
application to the great purposes of navigation, was understood 
before the time of Abraham, more than two thousand years before 
Christ, of which we shall give a more particular account in ano- 
ther place of this work. 

But if we cannot allow the Egyptians to have visited South 
America, and all the islands between, on voyages of discovery, 
which by no means can be supposed chimerical, we are ready 
to admit that they may have been driven there, by an eastern 
storm; and, as favoring such a circumstance, the current which 
sets from the African coast toward South America, should not be 
forgotten. 

If it be allowed that this mode of reasoning is at all conclusive, 
the same will apply in favor of their having first hit on the coast 
of the West Indies, as this group of islands, as they now exist, is 
much more favorable to a visit from that particular part of Africa 
called Egypt, than is South America. 

Egypt and the West Indies are exactly in the same latitude, that 
is, the northern parts of those islands, both being between twenty 
and thirty degrees north. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 119 

Sailing from Egypt, out of the Mediterranean, passing through 
the straits of Gibraltar, would throw a vessel, in case of an eastern 
-storm, aided by the current, as high north as opposite the Bahama 
islands. A blow of but a few days in that direction, would be 
quite sufficient to have driven an Egyptian vessel, or boat, or 
whatever they may have sailed in, entirely on the coast of the 
West Indies. The trade winds sweep westward across the At- 
lantic, through a space of fifty or sixty degrees of longitude, car- 
rying every thing within their current directly to the American 
coast. 

If such may have been the case, they were, indeed, in a man- 
ner, on the very continent itself, especially if the opinion of Pre- 
sident Jefferson and others be allowed, that the gulf of Mexico, 
which is situated exactly behind those islands, west, has been 
scooped out by the current which makes from the equator toward 
the north. 

Kentucky itself, where we think we have found the remains of 
an Egyptian colony, or nation, as in the case of the works and 
•catacomb at Lexington, is in latitude but five degrees north of 
Egypt; so that whether they may have visited America on a voy- 
age of exploration, or have been driven on the coast against their 
will, in either case, it would be perfectly natural that they should 
have established themselves in that region. 

Traits of Egyptian manners were found among many of the 
nations of South America, mingled with those who appeared to 
be of other origin; of which we shall speak again in the course 
of this work. 

But at Lexington, the traits are too notorious to allow them to 
be other than pure Egyptian, in full possession of the strongest 
complexion of their national character, that of embalming, which 
was connected with ther religion. 

The Mississippi, which disembogues itself into the Mexican 
gulf, is in the same north latitude with Egypt, and may have, by 
its likeness to the Egyptian Nile, invited those adventurers to pur- 
sue its course, till a place suited to their views or necessities may 
have presented. 

Other tokens of the presence of an Egyptian population, are 
not wanting in North America; as in the vale of Mexico, a few 
years since, " several curious specimens of sculpture have been 



120 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 



discovered, and sent to Charleston, South Carolina, by the Ame- 
rican Minister at Mexico, Mr. Poinsett; which articles are now- 1 
in the Museum of the Literary and Philosophical Society, at 
Charleston. The collection consists of several images, and a 
large figure of a snake, which was doubtless a favorite object of 
adoration. These images are well worthy attention, as they 
bear the evident marks of antiquity; and though the sculpture is: 
rude, it is impossible for any one who has examined the remains 
of ancient times, not to be struck with the strong resemblance 
they bear to the workmanship of the ancient Egyptians."- — The 
Escritoir, vol. 1, p. 358, for 1827. 



Ancient Letters of the Phoenicians and Americans. 

The ancient Punic, Phoenician, or Carthaginian language, is 
all the same; the characters called Punic, or Phoenician, there- 
lore, are also the same. A fac simile of those characters, as 
copied by Dr. Adam Clarke, are herewith presented. See No. 4. 



No. 4. 







No. 5. 



They were discovered in the island of Malta, in the Mediter- 
ranean, which was anciently inhabited by the Phoenicians, long 
before the Romans existed as a nation. These characters 
were found engraved on a stone, in a cave of that island, in the 
year 1761, which was a sepulchral cave, so used by the earliest 
inhabitants. These characters, being found in this ancient re- 
pository of the dead, it is believed, marks the place of the burial 
of that famous Carthaginian general, Hannibal, as they expli- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 121 

citly allude to that character. The reading in the original is as- 
follows: 

"Chadar Beth olam kabar Chanibaal Nakeh becaleth haveh y , 
rachm daeh Am beshuth Chanilaal ben Bar melecP 

Which, being interpreted, is: "The inner chamber of the sanc- 
tuary of the sepulchre of Hannibal, Illustrious in the consumma- 
tion of calamity. He was beloved. The people lament, when 
arrayed in order of battle, Hannibal, the son of Bar-melec." 

This is one of the largest remains of the Punic or Phoenician 
language now in existence. Characters of this description are 
also found on the rocks of Dighton, Massachusetts, near the- 
sea. 

In a chain of mountains between the rivers Oronoco and Ama- 
zon, South America, are found engraved in a cavern, on a block 
of granite, characters supposed also to be Punic letters, a fac 
simile of which is presented at No. 5. These were furnished by 
Baron Humboldt, in his volume of Researches in South America; 
between which and those given us above, by Dr. Clarke, it is 
easy to perceive a degree of similarity. 

But if the Phoenician letters shown at Nos. 4 and 5 are highly* 
interesting, those which follow at Nos. 1 , 2 and 3 are equally so* 
These are presented to the public by Prof. Rafinesque, in his At- 
lantic Journal for 1832, with their meaning. 

Under figures 1 and 2 are the African, or Lybian characters,, 
the primitive letters of the most ancient nations of Africa. Un- 
der figure 3 are the American letters, or letters of Otolum, an 
ancient city, the ruins of which are found in North America, 
being, so far as yet explored, of an extent embracing a circum- 
ference of seventy-five miles, of which we shall again speak in 
due time. 

The similarity which appears between the African letters and 
the letters of America, as in use perhaps two thousand years 
before Christ, is almost, if not exact; showing, beyond a doubt, 
that the same nations, the same languages, and the same arts,, 
which were known in ancient Lybia, or Africa, were also- 
known in America ; as well also as nations from old China, who 
came to the western coast in huge vessels, as we shall show in* 
this work. 

We here subjoin an account of those characters, numbered 1* 



122 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 



2, 3, by the author. Prof. Rafinesque; and also of the American 
glyphs, which, however, are not presented here, but on another 
page of this work. They are formed by a combination of the letters 
numbered 1, 2, 3, and resembling very much, in our opinion, the 
Chinese characters, when grouped or combined, with a view to 
-express a sentence or a paragraph in their language. The ac- 
count is as follows: 

LYBIAN. 

No. 1. 2. 



Ear 
Eye 

Nose 



AIPS 
ESH 
IFPv 



Tongue OMBR 
Hand VULD 
Earth LAMBD 
Sea MAH 

Air NISP 

Fire RASH 

Sun BAP 

Moon CEK 

Mars DO R 

Merc'y GOREG 
Venus UAF 
Saturn SIASH 
Jupiter THEUE 



A 

E 
I 

O 

U 

L 

M 

N 

P 

Bp 

C k 

D t 

G 

V f 

S sh 

Thz 



AMERICAN. 
3. 



»« 




m^^\mm^m 




Wm 


m\ 


:;v v 6rv. 


mnjUjEgu 


SI 


m 


Lu X U» 



A 

EI 

1Z 

ow 

aw 

IL 
IM 
IN 
[R 



UK 
ID ET 

[GH 

UW 

ESISF 

UZ 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 123 

Letter to Mr. Cha?npoJlion, on the Graphic Systems of America, 
and the Glyphs of Otolum, or Palenque, in Central America. 

ELEMENTS OF THE GLYPHS. 

I have the pleasure to present you here a tabular and com- 
parative view of the Atlantic alphabets of the two continents, 
with a specimen of the groups of letters, or glyphs, of the 
monuments of Otolum,* or Palenque ; which belong to my 
seventh serious of graphic signs, and are, in fact, words formed 
by grouped letters, or elements, as in Chinese characters, or 
somewhat like the cyphers now yet in use among us, formed 
by acrostical anagrams, or combinations of the first letters of 
words or names. 

When I began my investigation of these American glyphs and 
became convinced that they must have been groups of letters, I 
sought for the elementary letters in all the ancient known alpha- 
bets, the Chinese Sanscrit, but in vain. The Chinese characters 
offered but few similarities with the glyphs, and not having a lit- 
eral but syllabic alphabet, could not promise the needful clue. The 
Sanscrit alphabet, and all its derived branches, including even the 
Hebrew, Phoenician, Pelagic, Celtic and Cantabrian alphabets, 
were totally unlike in forms and combinations of grouping. But 
in the great variety of Egyptian form of the same letters, I thought 
that I could trace some resemblance with our American glyphs. 
In fact, I could see in them the Egyptian cross, snake, circle, 
delta, square, trident, eye, feather, fish, hand, &c, but sought in 
vain for the birds, lions, sphynx, beetle, and a hundred other 
nameless signs of Egypt. 

However, this first examination and approximation of analogy 
in Egypt and Africa, was a great preliminary step in the inquiry. 
I had always believed that the Atlantes of Africa have partly 
colonized America, as so many ancient writers have affirmed. 
This belief led me to search for any preserved fragments of 
the alphabets of Western Africa and Lybia, the land of the Afri- 
can Atlantes, yet existing, under the names of Berbers, Tuarics, 
Shelluhs, &c. This was no easy task The Atlantic antiqui- 
ties are still more obscure than the Egyptian. No Champollion 

F * A late discovered city of North America, nearly equal to the Egyptian 
Thebes. 



124 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

had raised their veil ; the city of Farawan, the Thebes of the 
Atlantes, whose splendid ruins exist, as yet, in the mountains of 
Atlas, has not even been described properly as yet, nor its inscrip- 
tions delineated. 

However, I found at last, in Germany, (Africa Illustrata,) an 
old Lybian alphabet, which has been copied by Purchas, in his 
collection of old alphabets. I was delighted to find it so explicit, 
so well connected with the Egyptian, being also an acrostic al- 
phabet, and above all, to find that all its signs were to be seen in 
the glyphs of Otolum, the American city. Soon after it appeared^ 
in a supplement to Clapperton and Denham's Travels in Africa, 
another old and obsolete Lybian alphabet, not acrostical, found by 
Denham, in old inscriptions among the Tuarics of Tagih and 
Ghraat, west of Fezan; which, although unlike the first, had 
many analogies, and also with the American glyphs. 

Thinking, then, that I had found the primitive elements of these 
glyphs, I hastened to communicate this important fact to Mr. Du- 
ponceau, (in a printed letter, directed to him in 1828,) who was 
struck with the analogy, and was ready to confess that the glyphs 
of Palenque might be alphabetical words, although he did not be- 
lieve before that any American alphabets were extant. But he 
could not pursue my connection of ideas, analogies of signs, lan- 
guages and traditions, to the extent which I desired, and now am 
able to prove. 

To render my conclusions perspicuous, I must divide the sub- 
ject into several parts, directing my inquiries^ 1st. On the old 
Lybian alphabet. 2dly. On the Tuaric alphabet. 3dly. On their 
element in the American glyphs. 4thly. On the possibility to read 
them. While the examination of their language, in connection 
with the other Atlantic languages, will be the theme of my third 
letter. 

1. The old Lybian, delineated in the table No. 1, has all the 
appearance of a very ancient alphabet, based upon the acros- 
tical plan of Egypt; but in a very different language, of which 
we have sixteen words preserved. This language may have been 
that of a branch of Atlantes, perhaps the Getulians, (Ge-tula, or 
Tulas of the plains,) or of the Ammonians, old Lybians, and also 
Atlantes. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 



125 



Out of these sixteen words, only five have a slight affinity with 
the Egyptian. They are: 





Lyiian. 


Egyptian. 




Lybian. 


Egyptian 


Nose 


lit 


Nif . 


Venus 


Uaf 


Ath _ 


Sea 

Saturn 


Man 

Siash 


Maun 
Sev 


Ear 


Aips 


Ap 



While this Lybian has a greater analogy with the Pelagic dia- 
lects, as many as twelve out of sixteen being consimilar. 





Lyiian. 


Pelagic. 




Lybian. 


• Pelagic. 


Eye 


Esh 


Esh as 


Earth 


Lambd 


Landa 


Nose 


Ifr 


Rinif 


Sea 


Mah 


Marah 


Hand 


Vuld 


Hul, chil 


Fire 


Rash 


Purah 


Moon 


Cek 


Selka, kres 


Venus 


Uaf 


Uenas 


Mars 


Dor 


Hares, Thor 


Saturn 


Siash 


Satur, Shiva 


Mercury Goreg 


Mergor 


Jupiter 


Theue 


Theos 



Therefore, the numerical analogy is only 32 per cent, with the 
Egyptian, while it is 75 per cent, with the Pelagic — another proof, 
among many, that the ancient Atlantes were intimately connected 
with the Pelagian nations of Greece, Italy and Spain, but much 
less so with the Egyptians, from whom they however borrowed 
perhaps their graphic system. 

This system is very remarkable. 1. By its acrostic form. 2. 
By having only 16 letters, like most of the primitive alphabets, 
but unlike the Egyptian and Sanscrit. 3. By being susceptible of 
twenty-two sounds, by modification of six of the letters, as usual 
among the Pelagian and Etruscan. 4. Above all, by being based 
upon the acrostics of three important series of physical objects, the 
five senses represented by their agents in man, the four elements 
of nature, and the seven planets; which are very philosophical 
ideas, and must have originated in a civilized nation and learned 
priesthood. 5. By the graphic signs being also rude delineations 
of these physical objects, or their emblems : the ear, eye, nose, 
tongue and hand, for the five senses; the triangle for the earth, 
fish for the sea or water, snake for the air, flame for fire; a circle 
for the sun, crescent for the moon, a sword for Mars, a purse for 
Mercury, the V for Venus, double ring for Saturn, and trident for 
Jupiter. Venus being the fifth planet* has nearly the same sign 
as U, the fifth letter. 

These physical emblems are so natural and obvious, that they 
are sometimes found among many of the ancient alphabets; the 



126 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

I 

sun and moon even among the Chinese. But in the Egyptian al- 
phabets, the emblems apply very often to different letters, owing 
to the difference of language and acrostic feature. Thus the hand 
applies to D in Egyptian instead of U, the eye to R, the circle to 
O, the snake to L, &c. 

II. The second Lybian alphabet, No. 2 in the tables, was the 
ancient alphabet of Tuarics, a modern branch of the Atlantes, until 
superseded by the Arabic. Denham found, with some difficulty, 
its import, and names of letters which are not acrostic but literal, 
and eighteen in number. It is doubtful whether these names were 
well applied, in all instances, as the explainer was ignorant, and 
Denham not aware of the importance of this alphabet. Some ap- 
pear not well named, and U with V have the same sign, W; but 
these are always interchangeable in old language, and in alphabet 
No. 1, V is called UAF, instead of VAF, and U is YULD, in- 
stead of UULD! 

As we have it, this alphabet is sufficiently and obviously derived 
from ths first, eleven out of the sixteen letters being similar or 
nearly so, while only five are different, E, M, R, G and Z. This 
last appears the substitute of TH, of No. 1, and GH represents G. 
Yet they are by far more alike than the Demotic is from the Hei- 
ratic Egyptian, and I therefore deem this No. 2 a Demotic form 
of the ancient Lybian or Atlantic. 

I might have given and compared several other Lybian alpha- 
bets found in inscriptions; but as they have been delineated with- 
out a key or names, it is at present very difficult to decypher 
them. I, however, recommend them to the attention of the 
learned, and among others, point out the Lybian inscription of 
Appolonia, the harbor of Cyrene, given by Lacella, in his travels 
in the Cyrenaica. The letters of this inscription appear more 
numerous than sixteen, or even twenty-two ; and, although they 
have some analogies with the two Lybian alphabets, yet approxi- 
mate still more to the Demotic of Egypt and the Phoenician. 
But the inscriptions in Mount Atlas and at Farawan, when col- 
lected and decyphered, will be found of much greater historical 
importance. 

III. Meantime, in the column No. 3, of the tabular view, are 
given forty-six elements of the glyphs of Otolum. These forty-six 



AND DISCOVERIS IN THE WEST. 12? 

elements are altogether similar or derived from the Lybian proto- 
types of No. 1 and 2. In some cases they are absolutely identic,, 
and the conviction of their common origin is almost complete, 
particularly when taken in connection with the collateral proofs 
of traditions and languages. These elements are somewhat 
involved in the grouping, yet they may be easily perceived and 
separated. Sometimes they are ornamented by double lines or 
otherwise, as monumental letters often are. Sometimes united 
to outside numbers, represented by long ellipses, meaning 10, 
and round dots, meaning unities, which approximates to the 
Mexican system of graphic numeration. Besides these forty- 
six elements, some others may be seen in the glyphs, which I 
left off, because too intricate; although they appear reducible, if 
a larger table could have been given. There is hardly a single 
one that may not be traced to these forms, or that baffles the ac- 
tual theory. Therefore, the conclusion must occur, that such as- 
tonishing coincidence cannot be casual, but it is the result of ori- 
ginal derivation. 

The following remarks are of some importance: 

1. The glyphs of Otolum are written from top to bottom, like 
the Chinese, or from side to side, indifferently, like the Egyptian 
and the Demotic Lybian of No. 2. We are not told how No. 1 
was written, but probably in the same way. Several signs were 
used for the same letter as in Egypt. 

2. Although the most common way of writing the groups is in 
rows and each group separated, yet we find some framed, as it 
were, in oblong squares or tablets like those of Egypt. 

3. The letter represented by a head occurs frequently; but it is 
remarkable that the features are very different from those of the 
remarkable race of men or heroes delineated in the sculptures. 

4. In reducing these elements to the alphabetical form, I have 
been guided by the more plausible theory involved by similar 
forms. We have not here the more certain demonstrations of 
Bilingual inscriptions; but if the languages should uphold this 
theory, they certainly will be increased by the Atlantic origins of 
Otolum. 

IV. But shall we be able to read these glyphs and inscriptions, 
without positively knowing in what language they were written? 
The attempt will be arduous, but it is not impossible. In Egypt, 



128 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

the Coptic has been found such a close dialect of the Egyptian, 
4hat it has enabled you to read the oldest hieroglyphs. We find 
among the ancient dialects of Chiapa, Yucatan and Guatimala, 
the branches of the ancient speech of Otolum. Nay, Otolum 
was perhaps the ancient TOL or TOLA, seat of the Toltecas, 
{people of Tol,) and their empire; but this subject will belong to 
my third letter. I will now merely give a few attempts -to read 
some of the groups. For instance: 

1. The group or word on the seat of the sitting man of plate 4, 
in the Atlantic Journal of Prof. Raffinesque, of monuments of 
Palenque, I read UOBAC, being formed by a hand, a tongue, a 
^circle, an ear, and a crescent. It is perhaps his name. And 
underneath the seat is an eye with a small circle inside, meaning 
EB. 2. In plate 5, (see Atlantic Journal for all the plates alluded 
to,) is an eye with two annexed rings, meaning probably BAB, 
and perhaps the sun, which is BAP in the Lybian alphabet. 3. 
In plate 1, the glyph of the corner with a head, a fish, and a 
crescent, means probably KIM. 4. The first glyph of page 15, 
is probably BLAKE. 5. I can make out many others reading 
1CBE, BOCOGO, POPO, EPL, PKE, &c. 

If these words and others (although some may be names) can 
%e found in African languages, or in those of central America, 
we shall obtain perhaps the key of the whole language of old 
Otolum. And next reach, step by step, to the desirable know- 
ledge of reading those glyphs, which may cover much historical 
knowledge of high import. Meantime I have opened the path, if 
my theory and conjectures are correct, as I have strong reasons 
to believe. 

Besides this monumental alphabet, the same nation that built 
Otolum had a Demotic alphabet belonging to my 8th series; which 
was found in Guatimala and Yucatan, at the Spanish conquest. 
A specimen of it has been given by Humboldt in his American 
researches, plate 45, from the Dresden Library, and has been 
ascertained to be Gutatimalan instead of Mexican, being totally 
unlike the Mexican pictoral manuscripts. This page of Demotic 
has letters and numbers, these represented by strokes meaning 
5, and dots meaning unities, as the dots never exceed four. This 
is nearly similar to the monumental numbers. 

These words are much less handsome than the monumental 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 129 

glyphs; they are also uncouth glyphs in rows formed by irregular 
or flexuous heavy strokes, inclosing within small strokes, nearly 
the same letters as in the monuments. It might not be impossible 
to decypher some of these manuscripts written on metl paper: 
since they are written in languages yet spoken, and the writing 
was understood in central America, as late as 200 years ago. If 
this is done, it will be the best clue to the monumental inscrip- 
tions. C. S. RAFINESQUE. 



This letter as above, strongly corroborates our supposition, that 
the authors of the embalmed mummies found in the cave of Lex- 
ington, were of Egyptian origin. See Morse's Geography, p. 
500, and the Western Gazetteer, p. 103, states that several hun- 
dred mummies were discovered near Lexington, in a cave, bu 
were wholly destroyed by the first settlers. 



*& further Account of Western Antiquities with Antediluvian 

Traits. 

Cincinnati is situated on one of those examples of antiquity, 
of great extent. They are found on the upper level of that town, 
but none on the lower one. They are so conspicuous as to catch 
the first range of the eye. 

There is every reason to suppose, that at the remote period of 
the building of these antiquities, the lowest level formed part of 
the bed of the Ohio. A gentleman who was living near the town 
of Cincinnati, in 1826, on the upper level, had occasion to sink a 
well for his accommodation, who persevered in digging to the 
depth of eighty feet without finding water, but still persisting in 
the attempt, his workmen found themselves obstructed by a sub- 
stance, which resisted their labor, though evidently not stone. 
They cleared the surface and sides from the earth bedded around 
it, when there appeared the stump of a tree, three feet in diame- 
ter, and two feet high, which had been cut down with an axe. 
The blows of the axe were yet visible. It was nearly of the color 
^nd apparent character of coal, but had not the friable^and fusible 

9 



130 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

quality of that substance. Ten feet below, the water sprang up*, 
and the well is now in constant supply and high repute. 

Reflections on this discovery are these: 1st. That the tree was 
undoubtedly antediluvian. 2d. That the river now called the 
Ohio, did not exist anterior to the deluge, inasmuch as the re- 
mains of the tree were found firmly rooted in its original position,, 
several feet below the bed of that river. 3d. That America was 
peopled before the flood, as appears from the action of the axe in 
cutting down the tree. 4th. That the antediluvian Americans 
were acquainted with the use and properties of iron, as the rust 
of the axe was on the top of the stump when discovered. 

And why should they not be acquainted with both its properties 
and utility, seeing it was an antediluvian discovery? Tubal' Cain 
one of the sons of Cain, the son of Adam, we find, according to-- 
Genesis iv. 22, was a blacksmith, and worked in iron and brassy 
more than a thousand years before the flood. It was about 500 
years from the creation, when Tubal Cain is noticed in the sacred 
history to have been a worker in brass and iron: but says Dr. 
Clarke, the commentator, " Although this is the first smith on re- 
cord, who taught how to make warlike instruments and domestic 
utensils out of brass and iron, yet a knowledge of the metalsmust 
have existed long before, for Cain was a tiller of the ground, as 
was also Adam, which they could not have been without spades, 
hooks, &c." 

The Roman plough was formed of wood, being in shape like 
the anchor of a vessel; the ploughman held to one fluke, so as to 
guide it, while the other entered the ground, pointed with iron, and 
as it was drawn along by the stem, it tore the earth in a streak, 
mellowing it for the seed. Such, it is likely, was the form of the 
primative plough, from which, in the progress of ages, improve- 
ments have been made, till the present one, as now formed, and 
is the glory of the well tilled field. 

According to this opinion, it would appear, that in the very first 
period of time, men were acquainted with the metals; and as they 
diverged from the common centre, which was near the garden of 
Eden, they carried with them a knowledge of this all-important 
discovery. If the stump is, indeed, antediluvian, we learn one 
important fact, and this is it: America, by whatever name it was 
called before the deluge, was then a body of earth above the wa- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 131 

ters, and also was connected with Asia, where, it is allowed on 
all hands, man was originated. If it were not connected with 
Asia, it might be inquired, how then came men in America before 
the flood, the traits of whose industry and agricultural pursuits are 
discovered in the felling of this tree, as well as a great number of 
other instances, of which we shall speak by and by? 

It is not probable, that before the flood there was so small a 
quantity of dry land on the earth as at the present time; the wa- 
ters of the globe being generally hid beneath the incumbent soil, 
so thai an easy communication of all countries with each other 
existed; which must have greatly facilitated the progress of man 
in peopling and subduing it. We know very well it is said, " the 
gathering together of the waters, called He seas;" but it does not 
follow that they were not subterranean; and it is more than inti- 
mated that such was the fact, when it is said, " all the fonntains 
of the great deep were broken up," on the day the flood com- 
menced. 

But by what means were they broken up? This is left to con- 
jecture, as the Scriptures are higher in their aim, than the mere- 
gratification of curious questions of this sort; but in some way 
this was done. The very terms " broken up," signify the exer- 
tion of power and violence, of sufficient force to burst at once 
whole tracts of earth from the face of the deep, and also to throw 
out, at one wide rush, the central waters of the globe. 

But can we conceive of any means made use of to effect this,, 
other than the direct pressure of God's power, sinking the earth 
to the depths beneath, so that the water might rise above, taking 
the place of the land? We imagine we can. 

It is well known, that the velocity of the earth, in its onward 
motion round the sun, is about twenty miles a second, nearly the 
speed of lightning. Let Him, therefore, who at first imposed 
this inconceivable velocity, stop the earth in this motion suddenly;; 
what would the effect be? All the fluids, that is the waters, whe- 
ther above ground or underneath it, would rush forward with a 
power equal to their weight, which would be sufficient to burst 
away mountains, or any impediment whatever; and rushing 
round the globe, rolling the mighty flood over all countries,, 
with a steady current, till the waters again sought their general 
level, which commenced to take place at the end of five months. 



132 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

from the beginning; when the earth again went onward in its 
annual journey. This is our opinion of the way how " all the 
fountains of the great deep were broken up." 

If the earth were to be arrested in its course now, the effect 
would be the same. Suppose we illustrate the position for a mo- 
ment. Place a vessel of water on a plank, for instance, open on 
the top, like a common bowl, fastened, so that it should not be 
liable to overset. Cause this plank to move, at first slowly, but 
increase its steady onward velocity as much as the fluid will bear, 
without causing a reaction; when, therefore, its utmost speed is 
obtained, stop it suddenly; the effect would be, the water in the 
vessel would instantly fly over, leaving the bowl behind. Such, 
therefore, we imagine, would be the effect^ if the earth were now 
caused to stand suddenly still in its orbit; except this difference, 
the law of gravitation would prevent the waters of the earth from 
leaving the surface, but would cause a rapid current in the direc- 
tion the earth is pursuing. 

It is supposed by many, that were the earth checked in its daily 
or diurnal motion on its axis, that the Pacific would, in a mo- 
ment, rise mountains high, and commence to roll its fathomless 
depths directly over the entire continent of America. The At- 
lantic would do the same, and sweep all Europe, Asia and Africa; 
while the Indian ocean, which is but the western side of the Pa- 
cific, would follow on, and thus the globe would again be deluged 
by a flood. As a reason for this belief, it is shown, that the sur- 
face of the earth moves at the equator, in turning on its axis, at 
the rate of more than 1,000 miles an hour; a velocity about 
equal to the speed of a cannon ball, and were this motion, 
checked suddenly, it would, it is supposed, produce the above 
effect. 

But, if such would be the effect, of a sudden interruption of 
the earth's diurnal motion, how is it that the earth was not over- 
flowed at the time the Divine power, at the request and com- 
mand of Joshua, the captain of the conquering tribes of the He- 
brews stood still, jfor the space of a whole day? In answer to 
this, we have but one reason to offer, and this is it: — that the 
matter of the earth's surface, would, the very moment of such 
an arrest; increase its gravitating power, so as exactly to coun- 
teract such a catastrophe, or such a tendency of its waters- 






AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 133 

To show this opinion correct, we have only to suppose the 
diurnal motion of our planet, increased so much as that it should 
make its revolution on its axis in one hour instead of twenty- 
four. What would be the effect? it would cause every particle of 
matter whether stone, timber, forests, houses with all the works 
of man, rivers, lakes, animals — with every human being to be 
thrown with all the force of an explosion high into the atmos- 
phere, which as it fell to the earth, would be again thrown off as 
before, by which means the earth would soon be reduced with all 
its appendages to a complete state of Chaos. If so, then we have 
a right to our conclusion, in the inverse proportion, which would 
take place were the earth suddenly caused to stand still on its 
axis; the gravitating principle would be increased in exact pro- 
portion as it would be lessened in case of an increased velocity 
of the earth's surface. So that were such a thing to take place, 
as in the days of Joshua, not a particle of the globe's surface, 
whether of earth or water, would be disturbed on account of the 
faithfulness of the principle of gravitation. 

But to stop the earth in its other motion, which is performed in 
its annual journey around the sun, would not effect in any way, 
the principle above alluded to. 

That such would be the operations on the earth's surface, were 
its motion, on its axis increased, as we have discribed, is shown 
from the fact that a wheel of nine feet circumference, made of 
wrought iron, will fly to attorns, before it reaches a velocity of 
400 feet to the second, were a sufficient impetus attached to it. — ■ 
Silliman's Journal. 

That the waters of the deluge came from the west, is evident 
from the manner in which the various strata of the earth are situ- 
ated over the whole of our country; and that its motion was very 
violent is also evident from the appearance of native or primitive 
rock being found on the top of that which is of secondary forma- 
tion, and of gravel and sand, hills and smaller eminences, lying 
on beds of clay and soils of various kinds below it. 

The effects of the deluge can be traced in all the earth, but 
particularly many parts of America, about the lakes, and to the 
east, showing that the waters flowed in that direction. For a 
beautiful and able description of this subject, see Thomas's Tra- 
vels, published at Auburn, under the head, The Deluge. 



134 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

But it may be inquired, from whence came water to furnish the 
earth with so long a rain as of forty days and nights; and from 
whence originated vapor enough to becloud the whole circum- 
amibent atmosphere of the earth at once. Surely some cause 
more than existed before the flood, or since, must have transpired 
at that time, to have produced this great accumulation of clouds 
and rain. 

The answer is, we apprehend, that the central waters bursting 
suddenly from the great deep, involving the whole globe, pre- 
sented a greater surface of that fluid to the rays of the sun, so 
that by its operation on the face of the waters, a dense mist or 
vapor was at once produced quite round the earth, which, in its 
ascent, carried up incessantly that quantity of water which furn- 
ished the atmosphere for so long and so dreadful a storm, and 
justify the expression, " and the windows of heaven were opened. " 

By some it has been imagined that the flood of Noah was pro- 
duced by the near approach of a comet, the waters of which at- 
tracted the waters of the globe from the depths so as to deluge 
the earth. But this opinion is not admissible, as the same comet 
which by the laws of gravitation would be compelled to follow 
the same track or orbit, would long ere this time have deluged 
the world several times, which has not taken place. Others have 
supposed that the poles have been entirely shifted. If such may 
have been the fact, it is true the earth would have been easily 
flooded, as the frozen oceans, with two continents of ice, would 
£iave been placed suddenly beneath the rays of a vertical sun, 
the effect of which would, even now, were such a catastrophe to 
take place, bring on a universal deluge, equal to that of Noah's. 
Also the whirl and shifting of the waters of the ocean would 
have contributed greatly to this effect. In support of this theory, 
it is shown that in the high northern latitudes, banks, and even the 
entire bodies of equatorial animals have been found imbeded in 
the ice, which have been brought to light by unusual thaws. 
Even in the most dreary and desolate northern regions are found 
in great quantities the tropical plants and trees in a state of pre- 
servation. 

But these, we believe, are to be accounted for, not on the prin- 
ciple of the shifting of the poles, but rather by the arrest of the 
globe in its orbit round the sun, occasioning a rapid current of the 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 135 

•waters of the earth eastwardly, which, as the strata of the earth 
generally shows, was the fact, would produce the appearances as 
above stated by the lateral flow of the waters round the earth 
.from the equator toward the poles. 

To the arrest of the earth in its orbit, it may be objected, that 
if such had been the fact, the globe would have fallen during that 
time a great way toward the sun ; to which we assert, that the 
same power which could arrest the earth in so extraordinary a 
manner could also hold it suspended in its true place, till the effect 
should be accomplished for which the arrest was designed. 

In this way the surface of the earth was ruined ; a dispropor- 
tionate quantity of water, caused to appear on the surface, while 
in the same ratio the land is sunk to the depths below. 

Sixteen hundred years and rising, was the space of time al- 
lowed from the creation till the flood ; a time quite sufficient to 
people'the whole earth, even if it were then enjoying a surface of 
dry land, twice as much as it does at the present time, being but 
about one-fourth; and America, as appears from this one monu- 
ment, the stump of Cincinnati, was a part of the earth which 
was peopled by the antediluvians. 

The celebrated antiquarian, Samuel L. Mitchell, late of New- 
York, with other gentlemen, eminent for their knowledge of natu- 
ral history, are even of the opinion, that America was the country 
where Adam was created. In a letter to Governor De Witt Clin- 
ton, in which this philosopher argued the common origin of the 
people of America, and those of Asia, he says : — " I avoid the 
opportunity which this grand conclusion affords me, of stating 
that America was the cradle of the human race; of tracing its co- 
lonies westward over the Pacific ocean, and beyond the sea of 
Kamschatka, to new settlements ; of following the emigrants by 
land and water, until they reached Europe and Africa. I had no 
inclination to oppose the current opinions relative to the place of 
man's creation and dispersion. I thought it was scarcely worth 
while to inform an European, that in coming to America he had 
left the new world behind him, for the purpose of visiting the old. 
— American Antiquarian Society, p. 331.) 

But this opinion cannot obtain, if we place the least reliance on 
the statement of Moses, in the book of Genesis, who gives a cir- 
cumstantial account of the place of man's creation, by stating the 



136 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

names of the very rivers arising out of the regions of country call- 
ed Paradise; such as Pison, Havilah, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Eu- 
phrates; or as they now are called, Phasis, A raxes, Tigris, and 
Euphrates ; this last retains its original name. 

No such rivers are known in America, nor the countries through' 
which they flow. Here are data to argue from, but the position, 
or rather the suggestion, of Prof. Mitchell, has absolutely no data 
whatever. If but a tradition favoring that opinion were found even 
among the Indians, it would afford some foundation ; but as their 
tradition universally alludes to some part of the earth, far away, 
from whence they came, it would seem exceedingly extravagant 
to argue a contrary belief. 

This one stump of Cincinnati, we consider, surpasses in conse- 
quence the magnificence of all the temples of antiquity, whose 
forsaken turrets, dilapidated walls, tottering and fallen pillars,, 
which speak in language loud and mournful, the story of their 
ruin ; because it is a remnant of matter, in form and fashion*, 
such as it was, before the earth " perished by water," bearing on 
its top the indubitable marks of the exertion of man, of so remote 
a time. 

It is not impossible but America may have been the country 
where Noah built his ark, as directed by the Most High. We 
know very well, when the mind refers to the subject of Noah's 
ark, our thoughts are immediately associated with Mount Ararat* 
because it rested there, on the subsiding of the flood. But this 
circumstance precludes a possibility of its having been built there, 
if we allow the waters of the deluge to have had any current at 
all. It is said in Genesis that the ark floated, or was borne upon 
the waters above the earth, and also that the ark " went upon the 
face of the waters." From which fact we imagine there must 
have been a current, or it could not have went upon the waters. 
Consequently, it went from the place where it was built, being 
obedient to this law of nature. 

Now, if it had been built any where in the country called Ar- 
menia, where the mountain Ararat is situated ; and as it is found 
the waters had a general eastern direction, the ark in going on the 
the face of the waters would have, during the time the waters of 
deluge prevailed, which was one hundred and fifty days, or five 
months, gone in an eastern direction as. far perhaps as the regions 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 137 

of the islands of Japan, beyond China, east, a distance of aboufe 
6000 miles from Ararat, which would be at the rate of about forty- 
miles a day, or if it had floated faster, would have carried it into> 
the Pacific ocean. 

But if we may imagine it was erected in North America, or some 1 
where in the latitude of the state of New York, or even farther 
west, the current of the deluge would have borne it easterly. And 
suppose it may have been carried at the rate of forty or fifty miles 
a day, would, during the time the waters prevailed, in which time, 
we may suppose, a current existed, have progressed as far as to 
Ararat, a distance of nearly 6000 miles from America, where it 
did actually rest. 

More than 1600 years had elapsed when the ark was finished,, 
and it may fairly be inferred, that as Noah was born about 1000 
years after the creation of the world, that mankind had, from ne- 
cessity, arising from the pressure of population, gone very far 
away from the regions round about Eden ; and the country where 
Noah was born may as well be supposed to have been America, 
as any other part of the earth; seeing there are indubitable signs 
of antediluvian population in many parts of it. Unite this circum- 
stance with that of the ascertained current of the deluge from 
America, and with the fact of the ark's having rested in an east- 
erly direction from this country, we come to a conclusien, that 
here, perhaps, in the very state of New-York, the miraculous 
vessel was erected, and bore away, treasured in its enormous 
capacity, the progenitors of the human race renewed. So that 
if America have not the honor of being the country where Adam 
was created, as is believed by some, it has, nevertheless the 
honor, as we suppose, of being the country where the ark was 
erected. 

It is not to be supposed, thai more than 1600 years could pass 
away, without the antediluvians having enjoyed the advantages 
of art and science, seeing these are the natural results of human 
society. The ark itself is a demonstration that even ship building 
was known, or how could Noah have understood what was meant, 
when it was said to him, " build an ark or vessel of gopher 
wood," &c. 

This supposition of the antediluvians having a knowledge of 
letters or their equivalents, is maintained by discoveries made on, 



138 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

•opening the vast heaps of bricks which formed the tower of 
■Babel. These bricks, it appears, were much larger and thicker 
^than the same article is now made, as they are found to be some- 
thing over a foot square and three inches thick. On many of 
these, as stated by M. Beaucham, a French traveller and astrono- 
mer, who visited Babylon in 1781, are engraven unknown charac- 
ters and hieroglyphics. On one brick he found a lion presented 
in relief, which shows that the mould in which the brick was form- 
ed, had the form of this animal carved or cut into the timber or 
-metal of which the mould was made. On another he found the 
shape of a half moon formed in the same manner. One of the 
masons who was employed in digging brick from these ruins, told 
M. Beauchamp, that there were often found, little cells which con- 
tained images of the human shape formed of clay, and that on 
one brick which had been taken from thence, were represented in 
varnish the figures of a cow, and of the sun and moon, which 
shows they had also a knowledge of painting, and delineation 
which belongs to the fine arts. — (See Evening Recreations, vol. 
1, p. 62, 1830.) 

Now it is not reasonable to suppose that the art of letters, paint- 
ing, and sculpture were all found out during the short space, from 
the time the ark rested on Ararat, till the time of the commence- 
ment of the building of that tower ; and we will add also, the 
knowledge of brick making, and of architecture. Is it not, there- 
fore, clear that all these were known and practised by the antedil- 



uvians 



This knowledge was, therefore, received from the family of 
Noah, and especially from Shem or Melchesideck, who, it ap- 
pears, in leaving the ark came westward from its resting place 
with some one of the colonies, who settled the land of Shinar. 

The invention of letters, is attributed to the Phoenicians, but the 
secret is, that, doubtless, to Shem or Melchesideck this art was 
known, and taught ; as well also, as the positions of the con- 
tinents of the glebe. 

Shem could therefore tell the latitude of the ancient seat of Pa- 
radise, though he may have been born in America, and though 
the flood has destroyed the beauty and towering grandeur of the 
pristine situation of the seat of Adam. 

In Morse's Universal Geography, first volume, page 142, the 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 139 

discovery of the stump is corroborated : " In digging a well in 
Cincinnati, the stump of a tree was found in a sound state, ninety- 
feet below the surface ; and in digging another well, at the same 
place, another stump was found, at ninety-four feet below the sur- 
face which had evident marks of the axe ; and on its top there 
appeared as if some iron tool had been consumed by rust." 

The axe had, no doubt, been struck into the top of the stump, 
when the horrors of the deluge first appeared, in the bursting forth 
of the waters from above, from the windows of heaven ; — when 
sounds terrific, from the breaking forth of the waters of the great 
deep, and from the shock all sensitive beings must have felt when 
the earth was caused to stand still it its onward course around the 
sun. Remember Joshua, at whose command and prayer, God 
stopped the earth for the space of a whole day, but not its onward 
course around the sun, but its diurnal motion only, which could 
not have any effect on the fluids of the earth, as the sudden in- 
terruption of the other motion would have had. 

Who would not flee, when phenomena so terrible, without pre- 
sage or warning, were changing the face of things, and the feel- 
ings of the atmosphere ; the earth quivering like an aspen leaf ; 
forests leaning to the east, and snapping asunder in one awful 
crash over all the wide wilderness ; rocks with mountains tumb- 
ling from their summits; the stoutest heart would quail at such an 
hour as this ; an axe, with all things else, would be left by the 
owners, and a general flight, if they could stand at all on their 
feet, would take place, they knew not whither. 

In one of the communications of the admired Dr. Samuel L. 
Mitchell, professor of Natural History, to the American antiqua- 
rian society, mention is made of a certain class of antiquities as 
distinguished entirely from those which are found in and about the 
mounds of the west, as follows : In the section of country about 
Fredonia, on the south side of lake Erie, are discovered objects 
deservedly worthy of particular and inquisitive research. This 
kind of antiquities, present themselves on digging from thirty to 
fifty feet below the present surface of the ground. " They occur 
in the form of fire brands, split wood, ashes, coals, and occasion- 
ally tools and utensils, buried to those depths." This, it will be 
perceived, is much below the bed of lake Erie, of consequence 
must have been antediluvian, and agrees with the discovery of 



140 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

the stumps at Cincinnati. " We are informed, that in Rhode Is- 
land, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, and in Ohio, such 
discoveries have been made." He says, " I wish the members of 
the society would exert themselves with all possible diligence to as- 
certain and collect the facts of this description. They will be ex- 
ceedingly curious, both for the geologist and historian. After 
such facts shall have been collected and methodised, we may per- 
haps draw some satisfactory conclusions ; light may possibly be 
shed upon the remote Pelasgians, and upon the traditionary At" 
lantides," the inhabitants of the island, we have before spoken 
of, Atalantis. 

But we cannot allow the discoveries made at this vast depth, to 
belong to any age, or to any of the works of man this side of the 
deluge, as that time enough has not elapsed since that catastrophe,, 
to allow the decomposition of vegetables, nor of convulsions, to 
have buried these articles so deep beneath the surface extending 
over so great a tract of country. The draining of lakes, how- 
ever sudden, could never have had so wide and universal an 
effect. 

It would seem, therefore, that we are compelled to refer them 
to the works of man beyond the flood, which, by the overflowing- 
of the waters, and the consequent ruin of the original surface* 
these works, with their makers, have been thus buried. 

In evidence, that the ocean, at some period in ages past, over- 
whelmed the American continent, we notice, from the " British 
Spy, ' page 112, an account of the discovery of the skeleton of a. 
whale, in Virginia : 

" Near Williamsburgh has recently deen discovered, by a farm- 
er, while digging a ditch through a plat of ground, about five feet, 
below the surface, a considerable portion of the skeleton of a 
whale. Several fragments of the ribs, and other parts, were 
found, with the whole of the vertebra, or backbone, regularly ar- 
ranged, and very little impaired as to figure. The spot where it 
was found is about two miles from James river, and about sixty 
from the sea. In the same region, at depths of from sixty to nine- 
ty and an hundred feet, having been found the teeth of sharks." 
In every region of the earth, as well as America, and on the 
highest mountains, are found the bones and shells of the ancient 
inhabitants of the sea. From the universality of those appear- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 141 

ances, we conclude they were deposited and cast thither by the 
billows of the deluge. 

From the discoveries of articles of the utensil character, the 
bones of whales, the teeth of sharks, and the stumps of Cincinnati, 
at various depths, as stated above ; we are led to the conclusion, 
that the original surface, of what is now called America, was 
perhaps not much disturbed; but was rather suddenly overwhelm- 
ed from the west, by the bursting forth of the subterranean Paci- 
fic, which, till then, had been covered with land, mountains and 
vales, thickly peopled. 

The vast depths of strata of loam, sand, clay, gravel, and 
stone, which lie over each other, evincing, from the unnatural 
manner of their positions, that they were thrown furiously over 
the whole continent, furnished from the countries of the west. 

That such may indeed, have been the fact, is favored from the 
discovery of the whale's skeleton, found on James river, which 
could never have been deposited there by other means than the 
flood; forced onward, till killed by the violence and agitation of 
the wood, stone, and earth encumbered waters, and sunk finally 
down. 

The pottery of the ancient nations, mentioned by Schoolcraft, 
found at the vast depth of eighty feet, and even at greater depths, 
at the great Saline in Illinois, is evidence of an antediluvian po- 
pulation in America. 

We have examined the blade of a sword found in Philadelphia, 
now in Peel's Museum, in New York, which was taken out of the 
ground something more than sixty feet below the surface. The 
blade is about twenty inches in length, is sharp on one edge, with a 
thick back, a little turned up at the point, with a shank drawn out 
three or four inches long, on which was doubtless, inserted in the 
handle, and clenched at the end. 

It is known that the sword of all ancient nations was very short, 
on which account, their wars on the field of battle, were but an 
immense number of single combats. 

At Cincinnati there is a barrow or mound of human bones, si- 
tuated exactly on the edge of the bank, that overlooks the lower 
town, the principal street leading from the water is cut through it, 
and exposes its strata and remains to every person passing by. 
Seven tiers of skeletons lay plainly in sight, where the barrow had 



142 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

caved away, from its being undermined. Among the earth thus 
fallen down, were found several stone hatchets, pieces of pottery,, 
and a flute, made of the great bone of the human leg. This is a 
very curious instrument, with beautifully carved figures, repre- 
senting birds, squirrels, and small animals, with perforated holes, 
in the old German manner, which, when breathed into, emitted 
tones of great melody. 

Among the modern Indians, no such instrument has ever been 
found. At the time when the street was opened through this bar- 
row of the dead, a great variety of interesting and valuable relics 
were brought to light ? among which were human double teeth, 
which, on a moderate calculation, bespoke men as large again as 
the present race. Also some brass rings, which were considered 
exceedingly curious ; an instance of which is similar to the one 
before mentioned in this work. Iron rings, as we have before 
stated, were anciently used among the Britons before the Chris- 
tian era, as money ; and possibly in this case, the brass rings 
found in this barrow, may be a specimen of the ancient money of 
America. 



Discovery of an Ivory Image in a Bone Mound at Cincinnati* 

In the same barrow of which we have been speaking, was dis- 
covered an ivory image, which we consider more interesting, and 
surpasses any discovery yet mentioned. It is said to be now in the 
cabinet of rare collections, once in the possession of the illustrious 
Jefferson. 

The account of the image is as follows: it is seven inches high j 
the figure full length; the costume, a robe, in numberless folds, 
well expressed, and the hair displayed in many ringlets; the child 
naked, near the left breast, and the mother's eye bent on it with 
a strong expression of affection and endearment. 

There are those who think it a representation of the mother of 
our Lord's humanity,with the child Jesus in her arms. The Ro- 
man Catholics have availed themselves of this image, and made it 
a testimony of the antiquity of their religion, and of the extensive 



AND DISCOVERIES IN WEST. 14«£ 

range of their worship, by attempting to prove thereby, that the 
idol was nothing else than a Madona and child, the virgin Mary, 
and the child Jesus; and that the Roman Catholic religion was the 
first which arose in the earliest Christian age in the east, and the 
last which set in the west, where it became extinct, by means of 
a second deluge. 

The idea, however, of a second deluge, is inadmissible, as it 
would have destroyed every vestige of the mounds, pyramids, 
tumuli, and fortifications, of which this work treats ; many of 
which are supposed older than the Christian era; and the mound ; 
in which the image itself was discovered would also have been 
destroyed. 

There is, however, another opinion, which is not impossible 
may have furnished the imagination with materials for the ori- 
gin of such a representation. The image may be of Greek 
origin, and taken from Isaiah the prophet, 7th chap., 14th verse, 
where it is said : — " Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a 
son." This prophecy of Isaiah was known to the Greeks, for 
the Old Testament was translated into their language in the time- 
of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, nearly three hundred 
years before the Christian era. — ( See Adam Clarke's General 
Preface to the Old Testament, p. 27, and is known as the Septua- 
gint version.) 

The Greek statuaries may, in this way, have easily found the 
beautiful and captivating idea of a virgin mother, by reading 
Isaiah in the Greek — a work fraught with all the grandeur of 
images inspired by God himself, and could not fail to challenge 
the reading of every learned man of the empire ; and such 
were the statuaries, among the Greeks, the fame of whose exqui- 
site skill in this respect, will go down on the historic page to latest 
time. 

From the Greeks, such an image, celebrating the idea of a vir- 
gin mother and her child, may have easily come into the posses- 
sion of the Romans; as the Greeks were, soon after the transla- 
tion of the Hebrew scriptures into the Greek, subdued by the Ro- 
mans, who, in their conquests here and there over the earth, in- 
cluding Europe, England, Scotland, and the northern islands, car- 
rying that kind of image with them as a god, or talisman, and 
from thence to America. 



144 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 

It is, however, not impossible, but it may be indeed of true 
Roman Catholic origin; as, at the time the Romans evacuated 
Europe, with its isles, Ireland, England, &c, about the year 450, 
this church had risen to great importance in the Roman empire, 
which aided her to establish her altars in every country they 
had conquered. Consequently, long before the Scandinavians 
colonized Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador, on the American 
continent, the Christian religion was planted in the north of Eu- 
rope; first in France, in the year 496, and then soon after in 
England; and so on farther north among the ancient Scandina- 
vians, Norwegians, &c, and by these to Iceland and Green- 
land; who may have also brought this trait of that church to 
America. 

Another relic of antiquity, discovered at Cincinnati, is a sphe- 
rical stone, found on the fall of a large portion of the bank of the 
river. It is a green stone, twelve inches in diameter, divided 
into twelve sides, and each side into twelve equal parts, and each 
part distinguished by hieroglyphical engravings. This beautiful 
stone, it is said, is lodged in the Cabinet of Arts, at Philadel- 
phia. It is supposed the stone was formed for astronomical cal 
culations, conveying a knowledge of the movements of the heav- 
enly bodies. 



Jl Cavern of the West, in which are found many interesting 
Hieroglyphics, supposed to have been made by the Ancient 
Inhabitants. 

On the Ohio, twenty miles below the mouth of the Wabash, is 
a cavern, in which are found many hieroglyphics, and represen- 
tations of such delineations as would induce the belief that their 
authors were, indeed, comparatively refined and civilized. It is 
a cave in a rock, or ledge of the mountain, which presents itself 
to view, a little above the water of the river, when in flood, and is 
situated close to the bank. In the early settlement of Ohio, this 
<:ave became possessed by a party of Kentuckians, called " Wil 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 145 

son's Gang." Wilson, in the first place, brought his family to this 
cave, and fitted it up as a spacious dwelling ; erected a sign-post 
on the water side, on which were these words: " Wilson's Liquor 
Vault, and House of Entertainment." The novelty of such a ta- 
vern induced almost all the boats descending the river to call for 
refreshments and amusement. Attracted by these circumstances, 
several idle characters took up their abode at the cave, after which 
it continually resounded with the shouts of the licentious, the cla- 
mor of the riotous, and the blasphemy of gamblers. Out of such 
customers, Wilson found no difficulty in forming a band of rob- 
bers, with whom he formed the plan of murdering the crews of 
every boat that stopped at his tavern, and of sending the boats, 
manned by some of his party, to New Orleans, and there sell 
their loading for cash, which was to be conveyed to the cave by 
land, through the States of Tennessee and Kentucky; the party 
returning with it being instructed to murder and rob, on all good 
occasions, on the road. 

After a lapse of time, the merchants of the upper country be- 
gan to be alarmed, on rinding their property make no returns, and 
their people never coming back. Several families and respecta- 
ble men, who had gone down the river, were never heard of, and 
the losses became so frequent, that it raised, at length, a cry of 
individual distress and general dismay. This naturally led to in- 
quiry, and large rewards were offered for the discovery of the 
perpetrators of such unparalleled crimes. It soon came out that 
Wilson, with an organized party of forty-five men, was the cause 
of such waste of blood and treasure; that he had a station at 
Hurricane island, to arrest every boat that passed by the mouth 
of the cavern, and that he had agents at Natchez and New Or- 
leans, of presumed respectability, who converted his assignments 
into cash, though they knew the goods to be stolen, or obtained 
by the commission of murder. 

The publicity of Wilson's transactions soon broke up his party; 
some dispersed, others were taken prisoners, and he himself was 
killed by one of his associates, who was tempted by the reward 
offered for the head of the captain of the gang. 

This cavern measures about twelve rods in length, and five in 
width; its entrance presents a width of eighty feet at its base, and 
twenty-five feet high. The interior walls are smooth rock. The 

j.10 



146 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

floor is very remarkable, being level through the whole length of" 
its centre, the sides rising in stony grades, in the manner of seat& 
in the pit of a theatre. On a diligent scrutiny of the walls, it is 
plainly discerned that the ancient inhabitants at a very remote- 
period, had made use of the cave as a house of deliberation and 
council. The walls bear many hieroglyphics, well executed, and' 
some of them represent animals, which have no resemblance to 
any now known to natural history. 

This cavern is a great natural curiosity, as it is connected with 
another, still more gloomy, which is situated exactly above, uni- 
ted by an aperture of about fourteen feet; which, to ascend, is 
like passing up a chimney, while the mountain is yet far above* 
Not long after the dispersion and arrest of the robbers, who had 
infested it, in the upper vault were found the skeletons of about 
sixty persons, who had been murdered by the gang of Wilson, as 
was supposed. 

But the tokens of antiquity are still more curious and impor- 
tant than a description of the mere cave, which are found en- 
graved on the sides within, an account of which we proceed to- 
give: 

1. The sun, in different stages of rise and declension; the moon, 
under various phases; a snake, biting its tail, and representing an 
orb or circle; a viper; a vulture; buzzards tearing out the heart 
of a prostrate man; a panther held by the ears by a child; a cro- 
codile; several trees and shrubs; a fox; a curious kind of hydra 
serpent; two doves; several bears; two scorpions; an eagle; an 
owl; some quails; eight representations of animals which are now 
unknown. Three out of the eight are like the elephant in all re- 
spects except the tusk and the tail. Two more resemble the tiger j; 
one a wild boar; another a sloth; and the last appears a creature 
of fancy, being a quadrumane, instead of a quadruped, the claws 
being alike before and behind, and in the act of conveying some- 
thing to the mouth, which lay in the centre of the monster. Be- 
sides these were several fine representations of men and women, 
not naked, but clothed; not as the Indians, but much in the costume 
of Greece and Rome. 

We must at once perceive that these objects, with an excep- 
tion or two, were employed by the ancient Greeks to display the 
nature of the world, the omnipotence of God, the attributes of 






AND DISCOVERIES JN THE WEST 147 

man, and the utility of rendering his knowledge systematic and 
immortal. 

All human sciences flourished among the Egyptians long before? 
they were common to any other people; the -Grecians in the days 
of Solon, about 600 b. c ; Pythagoras, about the same time; 
Herodotus, about 450 b. c. ; and Plato, a little later, acquired 
in Egypt all that knowledge of nature, which rendered them so 
eminent and remarkable. But the Egyptian priests did not di- 
vulge their doctrines, but by the aid of signs and figurative em- 
blems. Their manner was, to discover to their auditors the 
mysteries of God and nature, in hieroglyphics ; which were cer- 
tain visible shapes and forms of creatures, whose inclinations 
and dispositions led to the knowledge of the truths intended for 
instruction. All their divinity, philosophy, and thejr greatest se- 
crets, were comprehended in these ingenious characters, for fear 
they should be profaned by a familiar acquaintance with the com- 
monalty. 

It requires but a rapid and cursory view of the heiroglyphics 
above enumerated, to convince us of design; and also, that the 
cavern wherein they are found engraved, was originally a place 
of worship or of council. The sun, the most glorious of all 
visible beings, represented their chief god, and received their ado- 
ration for causing all the vegetation of the earth to bring forth its 
increase. 

2. The moon denoted the next most beautiful object in the 
creation, and was worshipped for her own peculiar usefulness ; 
and, more particularly, for supplying the place of the departed 
sun 

3. The snake, in the form of an orb, or circle, biting its tail,, 
pointed out the continual mutation of creatures, and the change of 
matter, or the perpetual motion of the world itself ; if so, this con 
struction of that hieroglyphic, the snake, agrees with the Greek 
figure of the same kind, which implies that the world feeds upon 
itself, and receives from itself in return, a continual supply for 
renovation and nourishment; the same symbol designated the year 
which revolves -round, and ends where it first began, like the ser- 
pent with its tail in its mouth. It is believed the ancient Greeks 
gave it this meaning. 

4. The viper, the most venomous of all creatures, was the em- 

10* 



148 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

blem of the devil, or wicked angel: for, as its poison is quick 
and powerful, so is the destroying spirit, in bringing on man- 
kind evils which can only be opposed by the grace and power of 
God. 

5. The vulture, tearing out the bowels of a prostrate man, 
seems a moral intending to reprove fierceness and cruelty. Dr. 
Rush says this hieroglyphic represents intemperance, and by them 
was so understood. 

6. The panther, held by the ears by a child, was meant to 
impress a sense of the dominion of innocence and virtue over 
oppression and vice; or perhaps it bore the Greek meaning of a 
wretch encompassed with difficulties which he vainly attempts to 
avoid. 

7. The crocodile, from its power and might, was another sym- 
bol of the Great Spirit; or its being the only creature without a 
tongue, might have given it a title to the same honor. All hea- 
then nations concur in repress nting their gods beholding and doing 
all things in heaven and earth in profound silence. 

8. The several trees and shrubs were undoubtedly emblematical 
of particular virtues, as represented in this temple, the cave, from 
a veneration for their aromatic and healing properties. Among 
the ancients, we know that the palm tree and the laurel were em- 
blems of victory and deserved honor, the myrtle of pleasure, the 
cedar of eternity, the oak of strength, the olive of fruitfulness, the 
vine of delight and joy, and the lily of beauty. But what those 
in the cave imply, it is not possible to determine, as nothing of 
their character can be deduced from the manner they were sketch- 
ed on the surface of a rough wall, the design obscured by smoke, 
or nearly obliterated from the effect of damp, and the gradual de- 
cay of time. 

9. The fox, from every authority, was put to denote subtlety 
and craftiness. 

10. The hydra serpent probably signified malice in envy — 
passions which the hieroglyphic taught mankind to avoid. 

11. The two doves were hieroglyphics of constancy and love; 
all nations agree in this, in admiring the attachment of doves. 

12. The bears, it is apprehended, signify industry, labor and 
patience; for the Indians believe the cubs of the bear come into the 
world with misshapen parts, and that their eyes, ears, and other 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WKlsT, 149 

members are licked into form by the mother, who passes days in 
that anxious and unceasing employ. 

13. The scorpions were calculated to inspire a detestation for 
malignity and vice; even the present race of Indians hold these 
animals in great disgust, healing wounds inflicted by them with a 
preparation of their own blood. 

14. The eagle represents and is held to this day as the emblem 
of a great, noble and liberal mind; fierce in war, conquering the 
enemy, and protecting his friends; he among the Indians who can 
do this, is compared with the eagle. 

15. The owl must have been set up to deter men from deceit 
and hypocrisy. He cannot endure the light of the sun, nor can 
hypocrisy bear that of truth and sincerity. He may have been 
the emblem of death and wretchedness, as among the Egyptians; 
or of victory and prosperity, when in a flying attitude, as among 
the Greeks. 

16. The quails afford no clue to their hieroglyphic, unless they 
signify the corn season, and point out the time for the usage of 
some peculiar rites and ceremonies of a religious nature. With 
the Greeks they were emblematical of impiety, from a belief that 

they enrage and torment themselves when the crescent of the new 
moon appears. 

17. The representations of the larger animals were doubtless 
indicative of the power and attributes of the Great Spirit. The 
mammoth showing his greatness, the tiger his strength, and the 
boar his wrath, the sloth his patience, and the nondescript his 
hidden virtues, which are past finding out. 

18. The human figures are more definite, and afford inferences 
more certain, on account of the dress they are represented in, 
which resembles the Roman. The figures would be taken for 
European antiquities, were it not for the character and manner of 
the heads. The dress of these figures consisted of a carbasus, 
or rick cloak ; a sabucala, or waistcoat, or shirt ; a supparum, 
or breeches, open at the knees ; sclea, or sandals, tied across the 
toes and heels ; the head embraced by a bandeau, crowned with 
flowers. 

19. The dress of the females, carved in this cave, have a Gre- 
cian cast, the head encircled by the crown, and was confined by 
a bodkin: the remaining part of this costume was Roman. The 
garments called stolla, or perhaps the toga pura, flounced from 



150 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

the shoulders to the ground ; an indusium appeared underneath ; 
the indusium was confined under the breast, by a zone or cestus ; 
and sandals, in the manner of those of the men. 

Could all this have been produced by the mere caprice of 
aboriginal artizans 1 We think not. They have, in this in- 
stance, either recorded their own manners in the one particular 
of costume, or they have represented that of others, who had 
come among them as strangers, and wonderfully induces the 
belief, that such were Greeks, Romans, or some nation of the 
earth whose mode of dress was similar. Viewed in the most 
critical manner, this instanee of American antiquity cannot fail 
to excite in the mind surprise, when we contrast this with the 
commonly received opinion that Columbus was the first discoverer 
of this country. 

The hieroglyphic carved in this cave, which represents a child 
holding or leading a panther, brings forcibly to the mind a similar 
Idea in the Hebrew scriptures, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 14, 
6th verse, where it is said, the wolf, the leopard and the young lion 
shall be led by a child; and relates to the period when both natu- 
ral and moral evil shall have no existence in the earth, as is be- 
lieved by some. 

In this cave, it appears, there are sketched on the rock the 
figures of several animals, now extinct ; among which, are 
/three, much resembling the elephant, the tail and tusks excepted. 
It would be passing the bounds of credulity to suppose the ar- 
tists who delineated those figures would represent no less than 
.eight animals, different in their configuration, one from the other, 
which had in reality no being, and such as had never been seen. 

We suppose the animals resembling the elephant t© have been 
the mammoth, and that those ancients were well acquainted with 
the creature, or they could never have engraved it on the rock. 
Job, of the scriptures, who was a native of the land of Uz, in Idu- 
mea, which is situated southwest of the lake Asphaltides, or sea 
of Sodom, was also well acquainted with this animal. (See Job, 
chapter 40.) " Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee ; 
he eateth grass as an ox. Lo, now his strength is in his loins, and 
his force in the naval of his belly. He moveth his tail like a ce- 
dar; the sinews of his loins are wrapped together. His bones are 
as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. He is 
the chief of the ways of God." 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. X5X 

Whoever has examined the skeleton of one of those animals, 
mow in the Philadelphia Museum, will acknowledge the bones are 
<jqual to bars of brass or iron. Its height over the shoulders, 
eleven feet; from the point of the nose to the end of the tail, 
following the exterior curve, is twenty-one feet ; a single tooth 
weighs four pounds ten ounces. The rib bones are six inches in 
width, and in thickness three. The whole skeleton as it is, with 
the exception of a few bones, weighs one thousand pounds. 

But how tremendous must that animal have been, to which the 
tooth weighing twenty-five pounds, found in the earth at Cincin- 
nati belonged, more than five times the dimensions of the one de- 
scribed above ; arguing, from proportion, that is, if a tooth be- 
longed to a skeleton weighing one thousand pounds, was found to 
be four pounds ten ounces ; a tooth weighing twenty- five pounds, 
would give a skeleton of more than five thousand pounds. And 
if the calculation be carried forward in this sort of proportion, we 
shall produce an animal more than forty feet high, and nearly a 
hundred in length, with a proportionable thickness. 

What would be the sensation, were we to meet an animal of 
this sort in his ancient haunts; it would almost appear a moving 
mountain. But add to this the enormous eyes of the animal, set 
at a frightful distance from each other, with an amplitude of fore- 
head between, clothed like the side of a hill, with a forest of 
shaggy hair; a mouth, gaping like some drear cavern, set round 
with teeth sufficient to crush a buffalo at a mouthful; its distended 
nostrils emitting vapor like the puffs of a steamboat, with a sound, 
when breathing, that might be heard afar; the legs appearing in 
size of dimensions sufficient to bear a ship on his shoulders; and 
his feet or paws spread out like a farmer's corn fan, armed with 
claws like flukes to an anchor of a vessel of war; the tail, as it 
is said in Job, waving to and fro, like a cedar bending before the 
wind. But add to all this anger; let him but put his fierceness 
on, his eyes flash fire, his tail elevated aloft, lashing the ground, 
here and there, at a dreadful distance from his body; his voice 
like the double rolling of thunder, jarring the wilderness ; at 
which every living thing would tremble and drop to the earth. 
Such an animal would indeed be the "chief of the ways of God." 
It would be perfectly safe in the midst of a tornado in the wilder- 
ness; no tree, or a forest of them, could possibly harm the mon- 



152 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ster by falling against it. It would shake them off, as smaller 
animals do flies in a summer's day. 

The one in Peale's Museum, of which we have spoken, a page 
or two back, is one out of nine skeletons of this monster, which 
were dug out of the earth in the neighborhood of the Shongum 
mountain, in Ulster county, on the southwestern side of the State 
of New-York, eight of which were sent to Europe — (See Staf- 
ford's Gazeteer of New-York.) 

Near Rochester, in the State of New-York, in 1833, two teeth 
of this animal were discovered, but a small depth beneath the sur- 
face. They were found in the town of Perrinton, near FuHam's 
Basin, some time ago, by Mr. William Mann, who was engaged 
in digging up a stump. They were deposited about four feet be- 
low the surface of the earth. These were in a tolerably good 
state of preservation ; the roots begin to crumble a little, but the 
enamel of the teeth is in almost a perfect state. The teeth were 
the grinders, and from their appearance, were located in the back 
part of the upper jaw. The largest one weighs three pounds and 
ten ounces, measuring six inches lengthwise of the jaw, and three 
inches across the top, the root is about six inches long with several 
prongs. The other tooth is smaller. If we are to suppose this 
animal to have the same number of teeth that other animals com- 
monly have, and that the rest of the teeth were of the same pro- 
portions, as to size, the circle of the jaw from one end to the other 
must have been six feet. Again, if we were to estimate the com- 
parative size of this tooth with that of a large ox, and from thence 
infer the size of the animal to which this tooth belonged, we should 
probably find that its size was forty times larger than our largest 
oxen. A forest of trees would soon be .nibbled to their roots by a 
herd of such animals as these ; and the western continent would 
prove a small enough pasture for a moderate number of them. 

Dr. Adam Clarke mentions, in his commentary on the subject 
of this animal, denominated behemoth in Job, 40th chapter, 15th 
verse, that he had weighed one of the very smallest grinders of an 
animal of this supposed extinct race, and found it, in its very dry 
state, to weigh " four pounds eight ounces ," "the same grinder 
of an elephant, says Dr. Clarke, I have weighed also, and find it 
but two pounds ; the mammoth, therefore, continues this great 
author, from this proportion, must have been as large as tioo ele 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 153 

phants and a quarter." If, then, an animal of this kind, having- 
a tooth weighing only four pounds and eight ounces, was more 
than twice as large as an ordinary elephant, how unwieldily and 
monsterous must have been the animal to which the tooth just 
mentioned, weighing twenty-jive pounds, once belonged, arguing 
from proportion, as Dr. Clarke has done. The same author in 
his Biblical Commentary on the first book of Genesis says, that 
from a considerable part of a skeleton which he had seen and ex- 
amined, it was computed that the animal, when living, must have 
been nearly twenty-five feet high and sixty feet in length ; the 
bones of one toe were entire, and were something more than three 
feet long. The height of the animal, as computed by Dr. Clarke, 
will agree well with the observations of travellers. In the vicinity 
of May's lick, or Salt spring, in the state of Kentucky, there are 
several holes, marked in such a manner as to proclaim at once, 
that they were formed by animals wallowing in them, after they 
had bathed and satiated themselves with the waters of the foun- 
tain; these were the works of buffaloes, deer, and other small ani- 
mals. But the same appearance are evident in some banks in the 
neighborhood, which were hollowed in a semicircular manner, 
from the action of beasts rubbing against them, and carrying off 
quantities of the earth on their hides, forming a thick coat, to de- 
fend against the stings of numberless flies, like the rhinoceros of 
Africa. One of those scooped out hollow banks, appeared as if 
an hundred thousand loads of soil might have been carried off : 
the hieght of the wasted bank, where it was affected by attrition,, 
was at least twenty-five feet. The other animals being smaller,, 
could get down and up again from their wallowing, with ease and 
quickness; but the mammoths were compelled, from their size, to 
lean against some hill or mountain, so as to coat their hide with 
earth. 

Near this spot are often found the frames of this animal, sunk 
in the mire. In the state of Missouri, White river and Straw- 
berry river, are certain ranges of mountains, at whose base, in a 
certain spot, are found " large quantities of these bones gathered 
in a small compass, which collection was doubtless occasioned by 
the appetite these animals had for prey, and had been attracted 
thither, on account of other animals flocking to the salt licks, at 
that place; the mammoths, following, became mired when they 



154 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ventured too far, in pursuit, into the marsh, and of course the 
struggles of the last one would sink the bones of his predecessor 
still deeper. Thus, these collections are easily accounted for, 
although, at first, it seems very strange to see these bones accu- 
mulated, like those of some of the extinct Indian tribes of the 
west." — (Beck's Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri, p. 332.^) 

Adam Clarke supposes the behemoth to have been a carnivo- 
rous animal. See his remarks on this monster, in his Commentary 
on Job, 40th chapter, 15th verse : " The behemoth, on the con- 
trary, (i. e. in opposition to the habits of the hippopotamus and 
■elephant,) is represented as a quadruped of a ferocious nature, 
and formed for tyranny, if not rapacity; equally lord of the floods 
and of the mountains ; rushing with rapidity of foot, instead of 
slowness or stateliness; and possessing a rigid and enormous tail, 
like a cedar tree, instead of a short naked tail of about a foot 
long, as the hippopotamus, or a weak, slender, hog-shaped tail, 
as the elephant." 

Job says, c. xl. v. 17, that he (this monster) moveth his tail like 
a cedar, that is, its motions were like those of a tall cedar tree 
moved slowly one way and the other by the wind, which explicitly 
and emphatically marks the monstrousness of this creature's size. 
" He moveth his tail like a cedar," slowly one way and the other; 
exactly as the lion, the tiger, or the leopard, in the motions of this 
limb, especially when angry, or watching for their prey; on which 
account, it is probable, Job has seen fit to make mention of this 
peculiar motion of the animal ; and also it is an evidence of the 
overwhelming power or strength of the mammoth. He was, in- 
deed, as it is said in Job, " the chief of the ways of God," in the 
creation of animals. 

At St. Helen's point, north of Guayaquil, in the republic of 
Colombia, South America, on the coast of the Pacific, on the equa- 
tor, are found the enormous remains of this animal. The Peruvian 
tradition of those bones is, that at this very point once landed, 
from some unknown quarter of the earth, a colony of giants, who 
mutually destroyed each other. At New Granada in the same 
province, and on the ridge of the Mexican Cordilleras, vast quan- 
tities of the remains of this huge beast are found. — (Humboldt's 
Researches in South America.) 

The remains of a monster recently discovered en the bank of 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 155 

the Mississippi, in Louisiana, seventeen feet under ground, maybe 
considered as the greatest wonder of the west. The largest bone, 
which was thought to be the shoulder blade or jaw bone, is twenty 
feet long, three broad, and weighed 1200 pounds. The aperture 
in the vertebrse, or place for the pith of the back bone, is six by 
nine inches calibre ; supposed when alive to have been 125 feet 
in length. The awful and tremendous size of what this creature 
must have been, to which this shoulder blade or jaw bone belong- 
ed, when alive, is almost frightful to think of. 

In President Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, we have the follow- 
ing as the tradition of the Indians respecting this animal, which 
they call the big buffalo, and assert that he is carniverous, as Dr. 
Clarke contends, and still exists in the northern parts of America. 

M A delegation of warriors from Ihe Delaware tribe visited the 
government of Virginia, during the Revolution, on matters of busi- 
ness ; after this had been discussed, and settled in council, the 
governor asked some questions relative to their country, and 
among others, what they knew or had heard of the animal whose 
tones were found at the licks on the Ohio. 

" Their chief speaker immediately put himself into an attitude 
of oratory, and with a pomp suited to what he conceived the eleva- 
tion of his subject, informed him that it was a tradition handed 
down from their fathers, that in ancient times a herd of these tre- 
mendous animals came to the Big-bone lick, and began an univer- 
sal destruction of the bear, deer, elk, buffaloes and other animals 
which had been created for the use of the Indians. And that the 
Great Man above, looking down and seeing this, was so enraged, 
that he seized his lightning, descended on the earth, seated himself 
on a neighboring mountain, on a certain rock, where the print of 
his feet are still remaining, from whence he hurled his bolts among 
them, till the whole were slaughtered, except the big bull ; who, 
presenting his forhead to the shafts shook them off as they fell ; 
but at length one of them missing his head glanced on his side, 
wounding him sufficiently to make him mad; whereon, springing 
round, he bounded over the Ohio at a leap, then over the Wabash, 
at another, the Illinois at a third, and a fourth leap over the great 
lakes, where he is living at this day." 

" A Mr. Stanley, taken prisoner by the Indians near the mouth 
of the Tennessee river, relates that after being transferred through 



156 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

several tribes, was at length carried over the mountains west of 
the Missouri, to a river which runs westwardly ; that these bones 
abounded there, and that the nations described to him the animal 
to which these belonged, as still living in the northern parts of 
their country." 

Mr. Jefferson contends, at page 77 ofjiis Notes on Virginia, 
that this animal is not extinct. " It may be asked," says this phil- 
osopher, " why I insert the mammoth as if it still existed. I ask 
in return, why I should omit it, as if it did not exist? The 
northern and western parts still remain in their aboriginal state, 
unexplored and undisturbed by us, or by others for us. He may 
as well exist there now as he did formerly, where we find his 
bones. If he be a carnivorous animal, as some anatomists have 
conjectured, and the Indians affirm, his early retirement to deeper 
wilds, may be accounted for, from the great destruction of the 
wild game, by the Indians, which commenced the very first instant 
of their connexion with us, for the purpose of purchasing match- 
coats, hatchets, and guns, with their skins." The description of 
this monster's habits, as given by the Delaware chief, has a sur- 
prising agreement with the account of the behemoth given by Job, 
especially at this verse: — te Surely the mountains bring him forth 
food, where ^11 the beasts of the field play." «? He frequents 
those places, (say's Dr. Clarke,) where he can have most prey ; 
he makes a mock of all the beasts of the field. They can neither 
resist his power nor escape his agility. It appears to have been 
a many-toed animal ; the springs which such a creature could 
make must have been almost incredible ; nothing by swiftness 
could have escaped its pursuit. God seems to have made it as 
the proof of his power, and had it been prolific, and not become 
extinct, it would have depopulated the earth of both men and 
animals. 



Tracks of Men and. Animals in the Rocks of Tennessee and 

elsewhere. 

Among the subjects of antiquity, which are abundant on the 
American continent, we give the following, from Morse's Univer- 



AND DISCOVERS IN THE WEST. 



15T 



sal Geography, which in point of mysteriousness is not surpassed, 
perhaps, on the globe. In the state of Tennessee, on a certain 
mountain, called the enchanted mountain, situated a few miles 
south of Braystown, which is at the headwaters of the Tennessee 
river, are found impressed in the surface of the solid rock, a great 
number of tracks, as turkies, bears, horses, and human beings, as 
perfect as they could be made on snow or sand. The human 
tracks are remarkable for having uniformly six toes each, like 
the Anakims of Scripture ; one only excepted, which appears to 
be the print of a negro's foot. One, among those tracks, is dis- 
tinguished from the rest, by its monstrousness, being of no less 
dimensions than sixteen inches in length, across the toes thirteen 
inches, behind the toes, where the foot narrows toward the instep, 
seven inches, and the heel ball five inches. One also among 
the tracks of the animals, is distinguished for its great size : it is 
the track of a horse, measuring eight by ten inches; nearly the 
size of a half bushel measure, and perhaps the horse which the 
great warrior led when passing this mountain with his army. 
That these are the real tracks of the animals they represent, ap- 
pears from the circumstance of this horse's foot having slipped 
several inches, and recovered again ; the figures have all the 
same direction, like the trail of a company on a journey. Not 
far from this very spot, are vast heaps of stones, which are the 
supposed tombs of warriors, slain, in the very battle this big 
footed warrior was engaged in, at a period when these mountains 
which give rise to some branches of the Tngulo, Apalachcola, 
and Hiwassa rivers, were in a state of soft and clayey tex- 
ture. On this range, according to ?»lexican tradition, was the 
holy mountain ; temple and cave of Olami, where was also a 
city and the seat of their empire, more ancient than that of 
Mexico. To reduce that city, perhaps, was the object of the 
great warrior, whose track with that of his horse and company, 
still appear. 

We are of the opinion, that these tracks, found sunk in the 
surface of the rocks, of this mountain, is indubitable evidence of 
their antiquity, going back to the time when men dispersed over 
the earth, immediately after the flood. 

At the period when this troop passed the summit of this moun- 
tain, the rock was in a soft and yielding state; time, therefore, 



158 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

sufficient for it to harden to its present rocky consistency, is the 
argument of the great distance of time elapsed since they went 
over it. It is probable the whole of these mountains, out of 
which arise the branches of the rivers above alluded to, were, at 
the time when the deluge subsided, but a vast body of clay; for 
even now, the surface, where it is not exposed to the rays of the 
sun, is of a soft texture, capable of being cut with a knife, and 
appears to be of the nature of the pipe stone. In order that 
those tracks might retain their shape against the operation of 
rains, the clay must have been of a tough and oily nature; and 
hardened by slow degrees, after having been brought to feel the 
influence of the sun's rays, and drying nature of the winds. 
The changing and revolutionising consequences of the flood, it 
is likely, unbared these bodies of clay from the depths of the 
earth, by washing off all the other kinds of strata, not so adhesive 
as is the nature of this clay; out of which these ranges of stone 
mountains have been made, some eighteen hundred years later 
than the origin al creation. 

In the wild and savage country of Guiana,*- in South America, 
are mountains of a prodigious height, on whose smooth and per- 
pendicular sides, which seem once to have been a barrier to 
mighty waters, are engraved; at a surprising distance from their 
base, the figures of animals; also the sun, moon, and stars, with 
other hieroglyphical signs. The tradition respecting them, among 
the natives, is that their ancestors, in a time of great waters 
came in canoes, to the tops of these mountains, and that the stones 
were then so soft, and plastic, that men could easily trace marks 
on them with their fingers, or with sticks. These rocks, it would 
appear, were then in a state similar to those in Tennessee, which 
also had retained the impressions made on them by the feet of 
the traveller. But these mysterious traces found on the mountain 
in Tennessee, are not the only impressions of the kind. Mr. School- 
craft, in his travels in the central parts of the Mississippi regions, 
informs us, that on the limestone strata of rock, which forms the 
shores of the Mississippi, and along the neighborhood of St 
Louis, were found tracks of the human foot, deeply and perfectly 
impressed in the solid stone. But two traces of this sort have 
been, as yet, discovered; these are the same represented on the 
plate, as given by Schoolcraft. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 15&». 

" The impressions in the stone are, to all appearances, those of 
a man standing in an erect posture, with the left foot a little ad- 
vanced, and the heels drawn in. The distance between the heels, 
by accurate measurment, is six inches and a quarter, and between 
the extremities of the toes, thirteen and a half. The length of 
these tracks is ten and a quarter inches, across the toes four 
inches and a half, as spread out, and but two and a half at the^ 
heel. Directly before the prints of these feet, within a few- 
inchests a well impressed and deep mark, having some resemblance- 
to a scroll, a roll of parchment, two feet long, by a foot in width. 

To account for these appearances, two theories are advanced;, 
one is, that they were sculptured there by the ancient nations i 
the other, that they were impressed there at the time when the 
rock was in a plastic state; both theories have their difficulties,, 
but we incline to the latter, because the impressions are strikingly 
natural, says Mr. Schoolcraft, exhibiting even the muscular 
marks of the foot, with great precision and faithfulness to nature,, 
and on this account, weakens, in his opinion, the doctrine of their 
being sculptured by the ancient nations. But why there are no 
others going to and from these, is unaccountable, unless we may 
suppose the rest of this rock, at that time, was buried by earth,, 
brush, grass, or some kind of covering. If they were sculptured 
why not other specimens appear; this one isolated effort of the- 
kind, would seem unnatural. — (See the plate which is a true fac 
simile of those tracks.) 



Cotubamana, the Giant Chief. 



On the subject of the stature of the Patagonians, we have the- 
following remarks of Morse, the geographer. "We cannot, 
without a charge of unreasonable scepticism, deny all credence 
to the accounts that have been transmitted to us, of a race of 
men of extraordinary stature, in the country about the strait of 
Magellan. 

Inscrutable as are the ways of Providence, and as limited as is 
the progress hitherto made in the natural philosophy of the globe 



160 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

we inhabit* no bounds can be assigned to the endless variety of 
phenomena, which successively appear. The man who can as- 
sign a reason why an Irish giant, or a Polish dwarf, should be 
born amidst nations of ordinary stature, will have solved every 
problem, as to the existence, either of gigantic Patagonians, or 
of pigmy Esquimaux. 

From an impartial revision of the various authorities, it ap- 
pears, as an established fact, that the usual stature of one or 
more tribes of Indians in Patagonia, is from six and a half to 
seven and a half feet." When the Spaniards conquered and de- 
stroyed the nations and tribes of some of the West India islands, 
among them was a tribe whose chief was a man of great stature. 
Cotubamana was the name of this cacique, who resided with his 
nation on the island Higuey, adjacent to Hispaniola. 

This chieftian, as related by Las Casas, the historian, was the 
strongest of his tribe, and more perfectly formed than one man 
of a thousand, of any nation whatever. He was taller than the 
tallest of his countrymen, and in width from shoulder to shoulder 
full three feet, with the rest of his person in admirable propor- 
tion. His aspect was not handsome; yet his countenance was 
grave, strongly marked with the characteristics of a man of cour- 
age. His bow was not easily bent by a common man; his ar- 
rows were three pronged, pointed with the bones of fishes; all 
his weapons were large enough for a giant; in a word, he was so 
nobly proportioned as to be the admiration of even the Spaniards. 
Already the murderous Spaniards had been more than conquer- 
ors in several battles which drove the poor fugitives to their caves, 
and the fastnesses of the mountains, whither they had followed 
their chief. A daily pursuit was continued, but chiefly to capture 
the as yet invincible Cotubamana. While searching in the woods 
and hills of the island, at a certain time, and having got on their 
trail, they came at length to a place where the path which they 
had followed suddenly divided into many, when the whole com- 
pany of the Spaniards, except one man, chose a path, which they 
pursued. This one exception, was a man named Juan Lopez, a 
powerful Spaniard, and skilful in the mode of Indian warfare. 
He chose to proceed alone, in a blind foot path, leading off to the 
left of the course the others had taken, winding among little hills ? 
so thickly wooded that it was impossible to see a man at the dis- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 161 

tance of half a bow shot. But as he was silently darting along 
this path, he encountered all at once, in a narrow pass, overhung 
by rocks and trees, twelve Indian warriors, armed with bows and 
arrows, following each other in Indian file. The poor natives 
were confounded at the sight of Lopez, imagining there must be 
-a party of soldiers behind him, or they would doubtless have 
transfixed him with their arrows. Lopez demanded of them 
where their chief was; they replied, he is behind us, and opening 
to let him pass, he beheld the dauntless Cotubamana in the rear. 
At sight of the Spaniard, the gallant cacique bent his gigantic 
bow, and was on the point of launching one of his arrows into his 
heart; but Lopez at the instant, rushed upon him, and wounded 
him with his sword. 

The other Indians, struck with terror, had fled. The Spaniard 
and Cotubamana now grappled with each other; Lopez had seized 
the chief by the hair of his head with one hand,, and was aiming 
with the other a thrust with his sword at his naked body, but the 
chief struck down the sword with his arm, and closed in with his 
antagonist, and threw him with his back upon the rough rocks. 
As they were both men of great strength, the struggle was long 
and violent. The sword lay beneath them, but Cotubamana 
seized with his great hand the Spaniard's throat, and began to 
strangle him, when the sound of the contest brought the other 
Spaniards to the spot. They found their companion writhing 
and gasping in the agonies of death, in the gripe of the Indian. 
The whole band now fell, upon him, and finally succeeded in 
binding his noble limbs, when they carried him to St. Domingo, 
where the infernal Spaniards hanged him as if he had been a 
Murderer. — Irving' s Life of Columbus, vol. 3, p. 159. 

Could this native have been less than twelve feet in height, to 
be in proportion with the breadth of his back between his shoul- 
ders, which was full three feet, as Las Casas relates? In read- 
ing the story of the miserable death of this hero, we are 
reminded of the no less tragical end of Wallace, the Scottish 
chief, who was, it is said, a man of great size and strength, and 
was also executed for defending his country. Goliath of Gath 
was six cubits and a span high, which, according to the esti- 
mate of Bishop Cumberland, was eleven feet and ten inches; 
Cotubamana and Goliath of the Philistines, were, it appears, much 

11 



162 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

of the same stature, terrible to look upon, and irresistible iw 
strength. There are those who imagine, that the first inhabitants 
of the globe, or the antediluvians, were much larger than our 
race at the present time; and although it is impossible to prove 
this opinion, yet the subject is not beyond the reach of argument 
in its support. The circumstance of their immense longevity 
favors strongly this opinion; our species, as they are now con- 
stituted, could not possibly endure the pressure of so many years; 
the heart, with all the blood vessels of the body, would fail. All 
the organs of the human subject, which appertain to the blood, 
would ossify, and cease their action, long before five, six and 
nine hundred years should transpire, unless differently or more 
abundantly sustained with the proper support, than could now be 
furnished from the little bodies of the present times. 

Small streams sooner feel the power of draught than a river or 
a lake; great trees are longer sustained beneath the rays of a 
burning sky, without rain, than a mere weed or shrub; and this 
is by reason of the greater quantum of the juices of the tree, and 
of the greater quantum of the water of the river or the lake. 

Apply this reasoning to the antediluvians, and we arrive at the 
conclusion, that their bodies must have been larger than ours, or 
the necessary juices could not have been contained, so as to 
furnish a heart, and all the blood vessels, with a sufficient ratio of 
strength and vigor to support life so many ages in succession.. 
Their whole conformation must have been of a larger, looser, and 
more generous texture, as the flesh and skin of the elephant, 
which is the largest as well as the longest lived animal known to 
th3 science of zoology. The mammoth was undoubtedly a long 
lived animal. The eagle, the largest of the fowl family, lives to 
a great age. That the antediluvians were of great stature, is 
strongly supported by a remark of king Solomon, found in his 
book of Wisdom, in the Apocrypha, 14th chapter, at the 6th 
verse, where he calls all the inhabitants of the earth, who were 
destroyed by the deluge, " proud giants," whose history, by tra- 
dition, handed down from the family of Noah, through the lineage 
of Shem, was well known to that king, the wisest of men in his 
day and age. And even after the flood, the great stature of men 
is supported in the Scriptures in several places, who were, for 
some generations, permitted to live several hundred years, and 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 163 

were all accordingly of great stature. Whole tribes or nations 
of gigantic inhabitants peopled the country of Canaan, before the 
Jews drove them out. Their manners and customs were very 
horrible, whom Solomon, the king, charges with being guilty, 
among many other enormities, of glutting themselves with the 
blood and flesh of human beings; from which we learn they were 
cannibals. — (See book of IVisdom, chap. 12, v., — Apociypha.) 
The very circumstances of the human race, before the flood, re- 
quired that they should be of. greater strength of body than now, 
because it is not likely so many useful and labor saving machines 
were invented and in use as now. Every thing was to be effected 
by strength of muscle a.nd bone, which of course would require 
greater bodies to produce it. 

Were we to indulge in fancy on this subject, we should judge 
them no pigmy race, either in person or in temper; but terrible, 
broad, and tall in stature, loose and flabby in their flesh and skin; 
coarse and hideous in their features, slow and strong in their ges- 
tures, irascible and ferocious in their spirits, without pity or re- 
finement; given wholly to war, rapine and plunder; formed into 
bands; clans and small bodies of marauders, constantly prowl- 
ing round each other's habitations, outraging all the charities of 
a more refined state of things, measuring all things by mere 
bodily strength. 

From such a state of things we should naturally look for the 
consequence mentioned in the Bible; which is, that the whole 
earth was filled with violence before the flood, and extremely 
wicked every way, so as to justify the Divine procedure in their 
extermination by a flood. Indications now and then appear, in 
several parts of the earth, as mentioned by the traveller, of the 
existence of fowls, of a size compared with the mammoth itself, 
considering the difference in the elements each inhabit, and ap- 
proach each other in size as nearly as the largest fowl now known, 
does the largest animaL Henderson, in his travels in New Sibria, 
met with the claws of a bird, measuring three feet in length; the 
same was the length of the toes of a mammoth, as measured by 
Adam Clarke. The Yakuts, inhabitants of the Siberian country, 
assured Mr. Henderson, that they had frequently, in their hunt- 
ing excursions, found the skeleton, and even the feathers of this 
fowl, the quills of which were large enough to admit a man's 



164 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

arm into the calibre, which would not be out of proportion with 
the size of the claws mentioned above. Captain Cook mentions 
having seen, during his voyages, a monstrous birds' nest in New 
Holland, on a low sandy island, in Endeavor river, with trees 
upon it, where were an incredible number of sea fowls. This 
monstrous nest was built on the ground, with large sticks, and 
was no less than twenty-six feet in circumference, more than 
eight feet across, and two feet eight inches high. Geographies 
speak of a species of eagle, sometimes shot in South America, 
measuring from tip to tip of the wings, forty feet. This, indeed, 
must have been of the species celebrated in the tradition of the 
ancients, called the Phoenix. 

In various parts of Ireland are frequently dug up enormous 
horns, supposed to have belonged to a species of deer now extinct. 
Some of these horns have been found, of the extent of fourteen 
feet from tip to tip, furnished with brow antlers, and weighing 
three hundred pounds. The whole skeleton is frequently found 
with them. It is supposed the animal must have been about twelve 
feet high. — (Morse's Universal Geography.) 



A further Account of Discoveries in the West, as given by 
the Antiquarian Society at Cincinnati. 

Near Newark, in the county of Licking, Ohio, is situated one 
of those immense works or fortifications. It's builders chose,with 
good taste and judgment, this site for their town, being exactly on 
the point of land at the junction of Racoon creek and South fork, 
where Licking river commences. It is in form resembling some- 
what a horse shoe, accommodated, however, to the sweep of those 
two streams; embracing in the whole a circumference of about six 
hundred rods, or nearly two miles. 

A wall of earth of about four hundred rods is raised on the sides 
of this fort, next to the small creek which comes down along its 
sides from the west and east. The situation is beautiful, as these 
works stand on a large plain, which is elevated forty or fifty feet 
above the stream just noticed, and is almost perfectly flat, and as 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 



165 



rich a soil as can be found in that country. It would seem the 
people who made this settlement undertook to encompass with a 
wall as much land as would support its inhabitants, and also suffi- 
cient to build their dwellings on, with several fortifications, arran- 
ged in a proper manner for its defence. There are, within its 
ranges, four of those forts, of different dimensions; one contains 
forty acres, with a wall of about ten feet high; another, contain- 
ing twenty-two acres, also walled; but in this fort is an elevated 
observatory, of sufficient height to overlook the whole country. 
From this, there is the appearance of a secret or subterranean 
passage to the water, as one of the creeks runs near this fort. A 
third fort, containing about twenty-six acres, having a wall around 
it, thrown out of a deep ditch on the inner side of the wall. This 
wall is now from twenty-five to thirty feet in height. A fourth 
fortification,, enclosing twenty acres, with a wall of about ten feet 
high. Two of these forts are perfect circles; one a perfect square; 
another an octagon, or eight sided. These forts are severally 
connected by roads running between parallel walls, and also in 
the same way communicate with the creeks; so that these impor- 
tant points, in case of invasion, should not be deprived of water. 
There are, besides the forts, four other small works of defence, 
of a circular form, situated in such a manner as to protect, in a 
measure, the roads running from fort to fort. 

The fort which is of the eight sided form, containing the great- 
est space within, has eight gateways, with a mound in front of 
each of them, and were doubtless placed there to aid in a defence 
against invaders. The other forts have no gateways connected 
with the roads that lead to them, except one, and this is a round 
fort united to the octangular fort, containing twenty-two acres; the 
gateway to this looks toward the wilderness, at this gate is also a 
mound, supposed to be for its defence. 

On the southern side of this great town, is a road running off to 
the country, whioh is also walled in the same way ; it has been 
surveyed a few miles, and it is supposed to connect other similar 
works on the Hokhoking, thirty miles distance, at some point a 
few miles north of Lancaster, as walls of the description connect- 
ed with this work, of ten or twelve miles in extent, have been dis- 
covered. It is supposed, also, that the wall on each side of the 
road were made for the double purpose of answering as a fenc? to 



166 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

their fields, with gateways to accommodate their farms, and for 
security in time of danger, so that communion between friendly 
settlements might not be interrupted. About the walls of this 
place have been discovered very beautiful rock crystal and horn 
stone, suitable for arrow and spear heads, a little lead, sulphur, 
and iron. This kind of stone, suitable for spears, was, undoubt- 
edly, valuable on other accounts, as axes, knives, mallets, &c, 
were made of it. It is likely that, as very little iron has been 
discovered, even in its oxydized state, their vast works of excava- 
tion were carried on by means of wooden shovels and scrapers, 
which would answer very well in the easy and stoneless soil of 
that country. 

A second fort, situated southwesterly from the great works on 
the Licking, and four or five miles, in a northwestern direction 
from Somerset, the seat of justice for Perry county, is found. 
This work encloses about forty acres. Its wall is entirely of 
stone, not regularly laid up in a wall, agreeably to the rules of 
masonry, but a huge mass of stones and rocks, df all shapes 
and sizes, as nature formed them, without the mark of an iron 
tool upon them. These are in sufficient quantity to form a wall, 
if laid in good order, of about fourteen feet in height, and three 
in thickness. 

Near the centre of the area of this enclosure is a stone mound, 
of a circular form, fifteen feet high, and was erected, as is con- 
jectured, for an altar, on which were performed their religious 
rites, and also for a monument to perpetuate the memory of some 
great event in the history of its builders. It is also believed that 
the whole of this vast preparation was devoted solely to the pur- 
poses of worship of some kind; as it is situated on very high 
grounds, where the soil is good for nothing, and may have been, 
what is called a high place in Scripture, according to the customs 
of the ancient pagans of the old world. 

It could not have been a military work, as no water is found 
there, nor a place of dwelling, for the same reason, and from the 
poverty of the soil; but must have been a place of resort on great 
occasions, such as a solemn assembly to propitiate the gods; and 
also a place to anoint and crown their kings, elect legislators, trans- 
act national affairs, judge among the people, and inflict condign 
punishment. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 167 

Who will believe for a moment that the common Indians of the 
-west, who were derived in part from the wandering hordes of the 
northern Tartar race of Asia, were the authors of these works, 
hearing the marks of so much labor and scientific calculation in 
their construction? It cannot be. 



Vast Works of the Ancient Nations on the east side of the 
Muskingum. 

This fort, town, or fortification, or whatever it may have been, 
is between three and four hundred rods, or rising of a mile in cir- 
cumference, and so situated as to be nearly surrounded by two 
small brooks, running into the Muskingum. Their site is on an 
elevated plain, above the present bank of that river, about a half 
mile from its junction with the Ohio. 

We give the account in the words of Mr. Atwater, president of 
the Antiquarian Society: 

"They consist of walls and mounds of earth, in direct lines, 
and in square and circular forms. The largest square fort, by 
some called the town, contains forty acres, encompassed by a wall 
of earth from six to ten feet high, and from twenty to thirty in 
breadth at the base. 

" On each side are three openings, at equal distances, resem- 
bling twelve gateways. The entrances at the middle are the 
largest, particularly on the side next to the Muskingum. From 
this outlet is a covert way, formed of two parallel walls of earth, 
two hundred and thirty-one feet distant from each other, meas- 
ured from centre to centre. The walls at the most elevated part, 
on the inside, are twenty-one feet in height, and forty-two in 
breadth, at the base, but on the outside average only about five 
feet in height. This forms a passage of about twenty rods in 
length, leading by a gradual descent to the low grounds,, where, 
at the time of its construction, it probably reached the river. Its 
walls commence at sixty feet from the ramparts of the fort, and 
increase in elevation, as the way descends to the river; and the 



168 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

bottom is rounded in the centre, in the manner of a well founded 
turnpike road. 

Within the walls of the fort, at its northwest corner, is an ob- 
long elevated square, one hundred and eighty feet long, one hun- 
dred and thirty-two broad, and nine feet high, level on the summit, 
and even now nearly perpendicular at the sides. Near the south 
wall is an elevated square, one hundred and fifty by one hundred 
and twenty, and eight feet high, similar to the other, excepting 
that instead of an ascent to go up on the side next the wall, there 
is a hollow way, ten feet wide, leading twenty feet towards the 
the centre, and then rising with a gradual slope to the top. This 
was, it is likely, a secret passage. At the southeast corner is a 
third elevated square of one hundred and eighty by fifty-four feet, 
with ascents at the ends, ten feet wide, but not so high or perfect 
as two others. 

Besides this forty acre fort, which is situated within the great 
range of the surrounding wall, there is another, containing twenty 
acres, with a gateway in the centre of each side, and at each 
corner these gateways are defended by circular mounds. 

On the outside of the smaller fort is a mound in form of a sugar 
loaf ; its base is a regular circle, one hundred and fifteen feet in 
diameter, or twenty-one rods in circumference ; its altitude is 
thirty feet. It is surrounded by a ditch four feet deep, fifteen feet 
wide, and defended by a parapet four feet high, through which is 
a gateway towards the foot, twenty feet in width. Near one of 
the corners of the great fort was found a reservoir or well, twenty- 
five feet in diameter, and seventy-five in circumference, with its 
sides raised above the common level of the adjoining surface, by 
an embankment of earth, three and four feet high. 

It was undoubtedly at first very deep, as, since its discovery by 
the first settlers, they have frequently thrust poles into it, to the 
depth of thirty feet. It appears to run to a point, like an inverted 
cone or funnel, and was undoubtedly that kind of well used by 
the inhabitants of the old world, which were so large at their 
top as to afford an easy descent down to the fountain, and up- 
again with its water in a vessel borne on the shoulder, according 
to the ancient custom. (See Genesis, xiii. 24.) "And she (that 
is Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel,) went down to the well, 
filled her pitcher, and came up." Bethuel was an Assyrian,who, 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 169^ 

it seems, had made a well in the same form with that described 
above. Its sides were lined with a stratum of fine ash-colored 
clay, eight and ten inches thick, beyond which is the common soil 
of the place. It is conjectured that at the bottom of this well 
might be found many curious articles which belonged to the an- 
cient inhabitants. Several pieces of copper have been found in 
and near these ancient works^ at various places; and one was in 
the form of a cup, with low sides, the bottom very thick and 
strong, showing their enlarged acquaintance with that metal, more- 
than the Indians ever had. 



Ruins of Ancient Works at Circleville. 

At Circleville, in Ohio, are the remains of very great works 
of this description, evidently of a military character, two of which 
are united; one is exactly square, the other an exact circle. The 
square fort is fifty rods on each side; the round one is nearly three 
hundred feet, or eighteen rods in circumference; the circle and 
square touching each other, and communicate at the very spot 
where they united. 

The circular fort is surrounded by two walls, with a deep ditch 
between them; the square fort is also encompassed by a wall, 
without a ditch. The walls of the circular fort were at least 
twenty feet in height, measuring from the bottom of the ditch, 
before the town of Circleville was built. The inner wall is formed 
of clay, brought from a distance; but the outside one was formed 
with the earth of the ditch, as it was thrown out. 

There were eight gateways or openings leading into the square 
fort, and only one into the circular. Before each of these 
openings was a mound of earth, about four feet high, forty feet 
in diameter at the base, and twenty feet and upwards at the top, 
situated about two rods in front of the gates, for the defence, no 
doubt, of these openings. The walls of this work vary a few 
degrees from north and south, and east and west, but no more 
than the needle varies; and not a few surveyors have, from this 



170 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

circumstance, been impressed with the belief, that the authors 
of these works were acquainted with astronomy, and the four car- 
dinal points. 

Within the great square fort are eight small mounds, placed op- 
posite the gateways, for their defence, or to give opportunity to 
privileged spectators to review the thousands passing out to war, 
or coming in with the trophies of victory. Such was the custom 
of ancient times. David, the most potent king of the Jews, stood 
at the gateway of the city, as his armies went to quell the insur- 
rection of his son, Absalom. (See 2d Samuel, xviii. 4.) " And 
the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came out, by 
hundreds and by thousands." It cannot be supposed the king 
stood on the ground, on a common level with his armies. Such a 
situation would be extremely inconvenient, and defeat, in a great 
measure, the opportunity of review. How impressive, when sol- 
diers, fired with all the ardor of expected victory, to behold their 
general, chief, king, or emperor, bending over them, as they pass 
on, from some commanding position near at hand, giving counsel 
to their captains; drawing, in this way, large draughts on the in- 
dividual confidence and love of the soldiery. Such may have been 
the spectacle at the gateways of the forts of the west, at the eras 
of their grandeur. 

In musing on the structure of these vast works found along the 
western rivers, enclosing such immense spaces of land, the mind 
is irresistibly directed to a contemplation of ancient Babylon, the 
first city of magnitude built immediately after the flood. That 
city was of a square form, being fifteen miles distance on each of 
its sides, and sixty in circumference, surrounded with a wall 
eighty-seven feet in thickness, and three hundred and fifty in 
height?. On each side it had twenty-five gateways, amounting in 
all, to a hundred; the whole, besides the wall, surrounded with a 
deep and wide ditch. At each corner of this immense square was 
a strong tower, ten feet higher than the walls. There were fifty 
broad streets, each fifteen miles long, starting from each of its 
gates, and a hundred and fifty feet broad, crossing each other at 
right angles, besides four half streets, surrounding the whole, two 
hundred {eet broad. The whole city was divided into six hundred 
and seventy-six squares, four and a half furlongs on each side. In 
the centre of the city stood the temple of Belus, and in the centre 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 171 

of this temple stood an immense tower, six hundred feet square at 
its base^ and six hundred feet high, narrowing in the form of a 
pyramid, as it ascended. The ascent to the summit was accom- 
plished by spiral stairs, winding eight times round the whole: this 
tower consisted of eight distinct parts, each on the top of the other, 
seventy-five feet high, till the whole, in aggregate, finished the 
tower. 

In the different stories were temples or chapels for the worship^ 
of the sun; and on its top, some authors say, was an image of gold, 
forty feet in height, equal in value to three millions five hundred 
thousand dollars. — Blake's Atlas. 

The model of this city, with its towers at the corners, and 
pyramid in its centre, having been made at so early a period 
of time, being not far from one hundred years after the flood, was 
doubtless of sufficient influence to impress its image on the memory 
of tradition, so that the nations spreading out from that region 
over all the earth, may have copied this Chaldean model in their 
various works. 

This thought is strengthened when we compare its counterpart, 
the vast works of the west, with this Babylonian prototype of ar- 
chitectural effort, and imagine we see in the latter, the features 
and general outlines of this giant among cities, in the towers, 
walls and pyramids of the western States. 

Near the round fort at Circleviile is another fort, ninety feet 
high, and was doubtless erected to overlook the whole works of 
that enormous military establishment. That it was a military es- 
tablishment is the decided opinion of the president of the Western 
Antiquarian Society, Mr. Atwater. He says the round fort was 
picketed in, if we are to judge from the appearance of the ground, 
on and about the walls. Half way up the outside of the inner 
wall, is a place distinctly to be seen where a row of pickets once 
stood, and where it was placed when this work of defence was 
originally erected. Finally, this work about its walls and ditch, a 
few years since presented as much of defensive aspect as forts 
which were occupied in our war with the French, such as Oswego, 
Fort Stanwix, and others. 

Respecting this place, it is said that the Indian, even to this day, 
will on no account enter within its outlines, which circumstance 
proves, b3yond a doubt, that it was also a holy or sacred place, 



172 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

where the mysteries of ancient paganism were celebrated with all 
the pomp and circumstance necessary to the belief of that which 
is but fiction. 



Ancient Works on Paint Creek. 

On Paint Creek, in Ohio, about fifteen miles from Chilicothe, 
are works of art still more wonderful than any yet described. 
There are six in number, in the neighborhood of each other. In 
one of those grand enclosures are contained three forts. One 
embraces seventeen, another twenty-sever^ a third seventy-se- 
ven — amounting, in all, to one hui^dred and fifteen acres of 
land. 

One of those forts is round, another square, and a third is 
of an irregular form; approaching, however, nearer to the cir- 
cular than any other; and the wall which embraces the whole, 
is so contrived in its courses, as to favor those several forms, the 
whole being evidently one work, separated into three compart- 
ments. 

There are fourteen gateways going out of the whole work, be- 
sides three which unite the several forts one with the other, in- 
wardly. All these, especially those leading outwardly, are very 
wide, being, as they now appear, from one to six rods. At three 
of those gateways, on the outside of the wall, are as many ancient 
wells ; and one on the inside, where doubtless, the inhabitants 
procured water. Their width across the top is from four to six 
rods, but their depth unknown, as they are now nearly filled up. 
Within the greatest enclosure, containing the seventy-seven acres, 
is an eliptical elevation of twenty-five feet high, and so large, 
that its area is nearly one hundred and fifty rods in circumference, 
composed almost entirely of stone in their rough and natural state, 
brought from a hill adjacent to the place. 

This elevated work is full of human bones, and some have not 
hesitated to express a belief, that on this work, human beings 
were once sacrificed. The surface is smooth and level, favoring 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 173 

the idea of the horrid parade, such occasions would produce ; 
yet they may have been erected for the purpose of mere military 
manceuvreing, which would produce a spectacle very imposing, 
composed of thousands, harnessed in their war attire, with nod- 
ding plumes. About a mile from this fort, there is a work in the 
form of a half moon, set round the edges with stones, exactly 
resembling the stone circles of the Druids, in which they per- 
formed their mystic rites in Europe, two thousand years ago. 
Near this semicircle is a very singular mound of only five feet in 
height, but ninety feet in circumference, composed entirely of red 
ochre ; which answers well as a paint. An abundance of this 
ochre is found on a hill, not a great distance from this place ; 
from which circumstance, the stream which runs along here, is 
called Paint Creek. 

So vast a heap of this paint being deposited, is pretty clear evi- 
dence, that it was an article of commerce, among these nations. 
Here may have been a store house, or a range of them, attended 
by salesmen, or merchants; who took in exchange for it, copper, 
feathers, bow and arrow timber, stone for hatchets, spears, and 
knives, wooden ploughs and shovels ; with skins and furs, for 
clothing ; stones for building their rude altars and works ; with 
food to sustain the populace, as the manner of cities is of the pre- 
sent time. Red paint in particular, is used now among the Hin- 
doos, which they mark themselves with, as well as their gods. 
This vast collection of red paint, by the ancient nations, on Paint 
creek favors the opinion that it -was put to the same use, by the 
same people. 

Near this work is another,, on the same creek, enclosing eighty- 
four acres, part of which is a square fort, with seven gateways ; 
and the other a fort, of an irregular oval, with seven gateways, 
surrounded with a wall like the others. But the most interesting 
work of the three contiguous forts, is yet to be described. It is 
situated on a high hill, of more than three hundred feet elevation, 
and in many places almost perpendicular. The wall running round 
this work, is built exactly on the brow of the precipice, and in its 
courses, is accommodated to the variations of this natural battle- 
ment, enclosing, in the whole, one hundred and thirty acres. On 
its south end the ground is level, where the entrance to the fort is 
easy. At the north end, which approaches pretty near to Paint 



174 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

creek, appears to have been a gateway descending to the water, 
the ground favoring it at this point, as well as at one other, lead- 
ing to a little stream, which runs along its base, on the east side 
of this eminence, where is also another gateway ; these three 
places are the only points which are at all ^accessible. The wall 
round the whole one hundred and thirty acres, is entirely of stone, 
and is in sufficient quantity, if laid up in good order, to make it 
ten feet high, and four thick. At the north gateway, stones 
enough now lie, to have built two considerable round towers? 
taken from the hill itself, and are of the red sand stone kind. 

Near the south end of this enclosure, at the place where it is 
easiest of access, " appear to have been a row of furnaces, (says 
Mr. Atwater) or smith's shops, where the cinders now lie, many 
feet deep ; but was not able to say with certainty, what, manufac- 
tures were carried on here, whether brick or iron, or both." It 
was a clay, that had been exposed to the action of fire ; the re- 
mains of which are four and five feet in depth ; which shows in 
a good degree, the amount of business done was great. " Iron 
ore, in this country, is sometimes found in such clay ; brick and 
potter's ware are now manfactured out of it. This fort is, from 
its natural site, one of the strongest positions of the kind in the 
state of Ohio, so high is its elevation, and so nearly perpendicular 
are the sides of the hill on which it was built." At the several 
angles of the wall, and at the gateways, the abundance of stone 
there, leads to the belief, that those points, towers and battlements 
once overlooked the country to an immense distance; from whence 
stones and arrows might have been launched away, from engines 
adapted to that purpose, among the approaching enemy, with 
dreadful effect. " No military man could have selected a better 
position for a place of protection to his countrymen, their temples 
and their gods," than this. 



Jlncieni Wells found in the bottom of Paint Creek. 

In the bed of Paint creek, which washes the foot of the hill, 
on which the walled town stood, have been discovered four wells. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 175= 

They were dug through a pyritous slate rock which is very rich 
in iron ore. When first discovered, by a person passing over 
them in a canoe, they were covered, each by stones of about the 
size and shape of the common mill stone. These covers had 
holes through their centre, through which a large' pry, or hand- 
spike might be put for the purpose of removing them off and on 
the wells. The hole through the centre of each stone, was about 
four inches in diameter. The wells at their tops were more than 
nine feet in circumference; the stones were well wrought with 
tools, so as to make good joints, as a stone mason would say, 
which were laid around them severally, as a pavement. At the 
time they were dug, it is not likely Paint creek run over these 
wells. For what they were sunk, is a mystery; as that for the 
purposes of water, so many so near each other, would scarcely 
appear necessary; perhaps for some kind of ore or favorite stone, 
was the original object, perhaps for salt water. 

There is, at Portsmouth, Ohio, one of those works, which is 
very extensive and wonderful,- on account of walled roads, a 
" high place,'' with many intricate operations in its construction. 
On the east bank of the Little Miami, about thirty miles east 
from Cincinnati, are vast works of this character. Twelve miles 
west of Chillicothe, on Paint creek, are found the remains of a 
furnace ten or twelve feet square, formed of rough stone v sur- 
rounded by cinders, among trees of full size. There are, at this 
place seven wells, situated within the compass of an acre of land, 
regularly walled up with hewn stone, but are nearly now filled up 
with the accumulating earth of ages Eight miles farther up the 
Creek, a small bar of gold was taken out of a mound, which 
sold in Chillicothe for twelve dollars. A piece of a cast iron 
vessel was taken out of the circular embankment at Circleville, 
Ohio. Near the same place was dug up from beneath the roots 
of a hickory tree, seven feet eight inches in circumference, a 
copper coin, but bearing no comparison with any coin now 
known. Another specimen of copper, finely wrought, was found 
on removing a mound in Chillicothe. 

On the Little Miami, about four miles above Waynes- Ville, on 
opening a spring of water, the workmen struck upon a regular 
stone wall. In digging a well in the village of W'illiamsburgh, 
on the east fork of Little Miami, those engaged in the excava- 



176 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

tion, come to a fire-place with charcoal and brands of burnt wood* 
at the depth of about thirty feet. On the same stream, thirty 
miles above,, a well was found, supposed to have been made by 
the ancient people, regularly stoned up, of the same size that 
wells are now. In some other mounds refined copper mixed with 
gold has been discovered. What better evidence can be necessary 
to establish the fact, that nations not aboriginal have peopled this 
country, who, for aught that appears to the contrary were as 
polished, enterprising, and as enlightened as the people of the 
most refined ages of antiquity, as demonstrated in China, or even 
in Europe, as far back as the era of the commencement of Chris- 
tianity? And if we may judge by some discoveries which have 
been made in the west, we are able to show that they were much 
more so, of which we shall give the evidence before we close the 
volume. 

New discoveries are constantly making of these ancient works, 
the farther we go west, and the more minutely the research is 
prosecuted. 

During the last year, 1832, a Mr. Ferguson communicated to 
the editor of the Christian Advocate and Journal, a discovery of 
the kind, which he examined, and describes as follows: — " On a 
mountain called the Lookout mountain, belonging to the vast 
Alleghanian chain, running between the Tennessee and Coos 
rivers, rising about one thousand feet above the level of the sur- 
rounding valley. The top of the mountain is mostly level, but 
presents to the eye an almost barren waste. On this range, not- 
withstanding its height, a river has its source, which, after tra- 
versing for about seventy miles, plunges over a precipice. The 
rock from which the water falls, is circular, and juts over consider- 
ably. Immediately below the fall, on each side of the river, are 
bluffs, which rise two hundred feet. Around one of these bluffs, 
the river makes a bend, which gives it the form of a peninsula. 
On the top of this are the remains of what is esteemed fortifica- 
tions which consist of a stone wall, built on the very brow of this 
tremendous ledge. The whole length of the wall, following the 
varying courses of the brink of this precipice, is thirty-seven 
rods and eight feet, including about two acres of ground." 

The only descent from this place is between two rocks, for 
-about thirty feet, when a bench of the ledge presents itself, from 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 177 

two to five feet in width, and ninety feet long. This bench is the 
only road or path up from the water's edge to the summit. But 
just at the foot of the two rocks, where they reach this path, and 
within thirty feet of the top of the rock, are five rooms, which 
have been formed by dint of labor. The entrance to these rooms 
is very small, but when within, they are found to communicate 
with each other, by doors or apertures. Mr. Ferguson thinks 
them to have been constructed during some dreadful war, and 
those who constructed them, to have acted on the defensive; and 
believes that twenty men could have withstood the whole army of 
Xerxes, as it was impossible for more than one to pass at a time; 
and might by the slightest push, be hurled at least a hundred and 
fifty feet down the rocks. The reader can indulge his own con- 
jectures, whether, in the construction of this inaccessible fortress, 
he does not perceive the remnant of a tribe or nation, acquainted 
with the arts of excavation and defence; making a last struggle 
against the invasion of an overwhelming foe; where, it is likely, 
they were reduced by famine, and perished amid the yells of their 
enemies. 



A Description of Western Tumuli or Mounds. 

Ancient Tumuli are considered a kind of antiquities, differing 
: in character from that of the other works; both on account of 
what is frequently discovered in them, and the manner of their 
construction. They are conical mounds, either of earth or stones, 
which were intended for sacred and important purposes. In 
many parts of the world, similar mounds were used as monu- 
ments, sepulchres, altars and temples. The accounts of these 
works, found in the Scriptures, show, that their origin must be 
sought for among the antediluvians. 

That they are very ancient, and were used as places of sepul- 
ture, public resort, and public worship, is proved by all the wri- 
ters of ancient times, both sacred and profane. Homer, the 
most ancient Greek poet, frequently mentions them, particularly 
describing the tumulus of Tydens, and the spot where it was. In 

12 



178 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

memory of the illustrious dead, a sepulchral mound of earth was- 
raised over their remains; which, from that time forward, be- 
came an altar, whereon to offer sacrifices, and around which to- 
exhibit games of athletic exercise. These offerings and games 
were intended to propitiate their manes, to honor and perpetuate 
their memories. Prudentius, a Roman bard, has told us, that 
there were in ancient Rome, just as many temples of the gods, 
as there were sepulchres of heroes; implying that they were the 
same. Need I mention the tomb of Anchies, which Virgil has 
described, with the offerings there presented, and the games there- 
exhibited'? The sanctity of Acropolis, where Cecrops the Egyp- 
tian and founder of the Athenian monarchy who lived about the 
time of Moses, was inhumed? The tomb of the father of Adonis, 
at Paphos, whereon a temple dedicated to Venus, was erected'? 
The grave of Cleomachus, whereon stood a temple dedicated to 
the worship of Apollo? Finally, I would ask the classical reader, 
if the words translated tomb, and temple, are not used as synony- 
mous, by the poets of Greece and Rome? Virgil, who wrote in 
the days of Augustus Caesar, speaks of these tumuli, as being as 
ancient as they were sacred, even in his time. 

The conical mounds in Ohio, are either of stones or of earth. 
The former, in other countries, and in former ages, were intended 
as monuments, for the pwrpose of perpetuating the memory of 
some important event, or as altars whereon to offer sacrifices* 
The latter were used as cemeteries and as altars, on which, in 
later times, temples were erected, as among the people of Greece 
and Rome. 

The tumuli " are of various altitudes and dimensions, some 
being only four or five feet, and but ten or twelve in diameter, at 
their base; while others, as we travel to the south, rise to the 
height of eighty, ninety, and some more than a hundred feet, and 
cover many acres of ground. They are, generally, when com- 
pleted, in the form of a cone. Those in the north part of Ohio, 
are of inferior size, and fewer in number, than those along the 
river. These mounds arc believed to exist, from the Rocky 
mountains in the west, to the Alleghanies in the east; from the 
southern shore of lake Erie to the Mexican gulf; and though few 
and small in the north, are numerous and lofty in the south, yet 
exhibit proof of a common origin. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 179 

On Jonathan creek, in Morgan county, are found some mounds 
whose bases are formed of well burnt bricks, between four and 
five inches square. The bricks of Babel were thirteen inches 
square. There are found lying on the bricks, charcoal cinders, 
and pieces of calcined human bones. Above them the mounds 
were composed of earth, showing, that the dead had been buried 
in the manner of several of the eastern nations, and the mounds 
raised afterwards to mark the place of their burial. 

One of them is about thirty feet in circumference, and 
the stones yet look black, as if stained with fire and smoke. 
This circle of stones seems to have been the nucleus on which 
the mound was formed, as immediately over them is heaped the 
common earth of the adjacent plain. This mound was originally 
about ten feet high, and ninety in circumference at its base; and 
has every appearance of being as old as any in the neighbor- 
hood, and was, at the first settlement of Marietta, covered with 
large trees." 

A particular account of many curious articles, which go to 
show the person buried there was a member of civilized society, 
is given farther »n in this work, under the head of " a descrip- 
tion of implements found in the tumuli." The person buried 
here was about six feet in height, nothing differing from other 
men in the form of his bones, except the skull, which was uncom- 
monly thick. The timber growing on this mound, when it was 
cleared off, was ascertained to be nearly five hundred years old, 
from counting the concentric circles or grains of the wood on 
the stumps. On the ground beside them were other trees in a 
state of decay, that had fallen from old age. 

If we were to conjecture, from this sort of data, how great a 
lapse of years has ensued since the abandonment of this mound, 
we should pursue the following method. From the time when the 
country became desolate of its inhabitants, till trees and forests 
would begin to grow, cannot well be reckoned less than five 
years. If then they are permitted to grow five hundred years, 
till as large and as old as some of the trees were on the mound 
when it was cleared by the people of Marietta, from that time till 
their natural decay and fall to the earth, and reduction to decayed 
wood, as was found on the mound, could not be less than three 
hundred years, in decaying so as to fall, and then fifty years to 



180 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

rot in; this would give eight hundred and fifty-five years for the 
first growth of timber. From this time we reckon a second crop, 
which we will suppose, was the one growing when the mound 
was cleared of its timber; which was, according to Mr. Atwater's 
statement, " between four and five hundred years;" add this to 
the age of the first crop, say four hundred and fifty, and we have, 
in the whole, one thousand three hundred and five years since it 
was deserted of its builders. Dr. Cutler supposes at least a thousand 
years. Then it will follow, taking out the time since Marietta 
was settled, and the mound cleared of its timber, that the country 
was deserted about five hundred years after the commencement 
of the Christian era. 

About the same time, say from the year 410 to 500 of the 
Christian era, the greater part of Europe was devastated by the 
Goths, the Huns, the Heruli, the Vandals, the Swevri, the Alians, 
and other savage tribes, all from the northern wilds of ancient 
Russia. By these the western empire of the Romans, compre- 
hending Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and England, was sub- 
verted; all literature was obliterated, and the works of the 
learned, w r hich contained the discoveries and improvements of 
ages, were annihilated. 

And from all we can make out by observing the growth of 
timber, with that which is decayed, as found on the deserted 
works of the west, we are inclined to believe, that about the same 
period of time when Europe was overrun by the northern hordes, 
that the region now called the United States, where the ancient 
inhabitants had fixed their abode, was also overrun by northern 
hordes from toward Bhering's strait, who had, in ages before, got 
across from Asia, the Tartars, or Scythians, and had multiplied; 
and as they multiplied, progressed farther and farther southerly 
till they discovered an inhabited country, populous, and rich, upon 
whom they fell with all the fury of Attila and his Huns; till after 
many a long and dreadful war, they were reduced in numbers, 
and driven from their country far to the south; when the rich 
fields, vast cities, innumerable towns, with all their works, were 
reduced to the ancient dominion of nature, as it was. when first 
overgrown immediately after the flood, except their vast pyramids, 
fortifications, and tumuli, these being of the same nature and 
durability of the hills and mountains, have stood the shock of war 
and time — the monuments of powerful nations disappeared. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 181 

" In clearing out a spring near some ancient ruins of the west 
on the bank of the Little Miami, not far from its entrance into 
the Ohio, was found a copper coin, four feet below the surface of 
the earth; from the fac simile of which it appears, that the char- 
acters on the coin are old Persian characters. — Morse's TJniver 
sal Geography, vol. 1, p. 442. 

The era of the Persians, as noticed on the page of history, 
was from 559, after the flood, till 334, before Christ, and were a 
people of great strength, of enterprising character, and enlight- 
ened in the arts and sciences; and for aught that can be objected, 
traversed the globe, planted colonies, perhaps even in America, 
as the coin, which lay so deep beneath the surface of the earth, 
would seem to justify; which was truly a Persian coin of copper. 
At Cincinnati, a mound, only eight feet high, but one hundred 
and twenty long, by sixty in breadth, has been opened, and is 
now almost obliterated, by the construction of Main-street, which 
has furnished many curious discoveries relative to the ancient 
inhabitants who built it. Of the articles taken from thence, 
many have been lost; but the most worthy of notice are embraced 
in the following catalogue: — 1st. Pieces of jasper, rock crystal, 
granite and some other stones, cylindrical at the extremes, and 
swelled in the middle, with an annular groove near the end. 2d. 
A circular piece of stone coal, with a large opening in the centre, 
as if for an axis or axel tree, and a deep groove; the cir- 
cumference suitable for a hand; it has a number of small perfora- 
tions, disposed in four equidistant lines, which run from the cir- 
cumference towards the centre. 3d. A small article of the same 
shape, with eight lines of perforations, but composed of argila- 
ceous earth, well polished; 4th. A bone ornamented with several 
lines, supposed to be hieroglyphical. 5th. A sculptured repre- 
sentation of the head and beak of a rapacious bird, resembling 
the eagle. 6th. A mass of lead ore, lumps of which have been 
found in other tumuli. 7th. A quantity of isinglass, (mica mem- 
brancea,) several plates of which have been found in and about 
other mounds. 8th. A small oval piece of sheet copper, with two 
perforations; a large oblong piece of the same metal, with longi- 
tudinal grooves and ridges. 

These articles are described in the fourth and fifth volumes of 
the American Philosophical Transactions, by Governeur Sargeant 



182 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

and Judge Turner, and were supposed, by philosopher Barton, to 
have been designed, in part-, for ornament, and, in part, for super- 
stitious ceremonies. In addition to which, the author of the fore- 
going, (Mr. A.twater,) says, he has since discovered, in the same 
mound, a number of beads, or sections, of small hollow cylinders, 
apparently of bone or shell. 

Several large marine shells, cut in such a manner as to serve 
for domestic utensils, and nearly converted into a state of chalk; 
several copper articles, each consisting of two sets of circular 
concavo convex plates, the interior of each set connected with 
the other by a hollow axis, around which had been wound some 
lint, and the whole encompassed by the hones of a man's hand. 
About the precincts of this town, Cincinnati, human bones have 
been found "of different sizes; sometimes enclosed in rude stone 
coffins, but oftener lying blended with the earth; generally sur- 
rounded by a portion of ashes and charcoal," as if they had been 
burnt either alive or dead, as the Hindoos burn both the dead 
husband and tke living wife, on the same funeral pile. (See 
Ward's History of the Hindoos, p. 57;) where he states, "that 
not less than five thousand of these unfortunate women, it is sup- 
posed, are burnt annually." On the shores of the Pacific, to the 
west, about the mouth of the Columbia river dwell a tribe of 
Indians, known by the name of Tolkotins, who compel the 
widows of their tribe to sleep by the dead bodies of their de- 
ceased husbands, nine nights in succession immediately after 
their death, however offensive it may be. When this period is 
accomplished, the body is laid on a pile of dry wood and burnt 
to ashes, at which time, the unfortunate wife is forced, by the 
friends of the deceased, into the fire, while her own relations 
stand by, and as often as she is pushed on to the fire, these pull 
her off. This kind of persecution, they continue till the poor 
wretch is severely blistered, when they desist. The body of her 
lord is now consumed, when she gathers up the bones from 
among the ashes of the wood, and carefully envelopes them in 
the bark of the birch tree, and is doomed to carry them about on 
her back, a year or two. When the prescribed time is accom- 
plished, the relations on both sides assemble, and having feasted, 
discharge her from farther penance, when, if she chooses, she 
can marry again. So far as is known, it appears that this prac- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 183 

tice, which is purely of Hindoo origin, is peculiar to this tribe.— 
Ross Cox's late travels on the Columbia, p. 329. 

This practice as above, is ample evidence, that the Hindoos 
once filled with their idolatry, and cruel ceremonies, the regions 
of the west, who came hither in vessels, in the early ages, as we 
shall show in another part of this volume. 

The ancient Jews practised the same thing; (See Amos, vi. 10.) 
" And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burnetii him, 
to bring out the bones out of the house." The ancient Edomites 
burnt the dead bodies of their captured enemies. (See Amos, ii. 
1 :) " He," that is Edom, " burned the bones of the king of Edom 
into lime." The same may have been practised in America. 

Besides these relics found at Marietta, others equally interest- 
ing, have been procured from a mound on the Little Muskingum, 
about four miles from Marietta. There are some pieces of cop- 
per which appear to have been the front part of a helmet. It was 
originally about eight inches long and four broad, and has marks 
of having been attached to leather; it is much decayed, and is 
13 sis sjuoioub oq; A*q uiOAi sbav jouqoq oqj, 'd}Te[d uiqj 12 ounb avou 
defence against the blows of the sword, aimed at the head. The 
Greeks, the Romans, with many other nations of antiquity, made 
use of this majestic, beautiful, warlike covering of the head, 
But how came this part of the ancient armor in America? This 
is the mystery, and cannot be solved, only on the principle, tlaat 
we believe the wearers lived in those ages coeval with the martial 
exploits of the Medes, Persians, Carthaginians, Egyptians, 
Greeks, Romans and of the Celtic nations of Europe. In the 
same mound on the Muskingum, was found a copper ornament; 
this was on the forehead of a human skeleton, no part of which 
retained its form, except that part of the forehead where the 
copper ornament lay, and had been preserved no doubt by the 
salts of that mineral. 

"In Ross county, near Chilicothe, a few years since, was found, 
in the hand of a skeleton, which lay buried in a small mound, an 
ornament of pure gold; this curiosity, it is said, is now in the 
Museum at Philadelphia." — (Atwater.) The tumuli, in what is 
called the Sciota country, are both numerous and interesting. But 
south of Lake Erie, until we arrive at Worthington, nine miles 
north of Columbus, they are few in number, and of comparatively 



184 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

small magnitude. Near Columbus, the seat' of government in 
Ohio, were several mounds, one of which stood on an eminence in 
the principle street, which has been entirely removed, and con- 
verted into brick. It contained human bones, some few articles, 
among which was an oiol, carved in stone, a rude but very exact 
representation. The owl, among the Romans, was the emblem of 
wisdom, and it is not impossible but the ancients of the west, may 
have carved it in the stone for the same reason; who may have 
been, in part, Romans, or nations derived from them, or nations 
acquainted with theh%manners, their gods, and their sculpture, as 
we suppose the Danes were. "In another part of the town of 
Columbus, was a tumulus of clay, which was also manufactured 
into brick. In this were many human bones; but they lay in 
piles and in confusion," which would seem to elicit the belief, 
that these were the bones of an enemy, or they would have been 
laid in their accustomed order. Or they may have been the bones 
of the conquered, thrown together in a confused manner, and bu- 
ried fo&neath this mound. 

As we still descend the Sciota, through a most fertile region of 
country, mounds and other ancient works, frequently appear, until 
we arrive at Circleville. Near the centre of the circular fort at 
Circleville, was a tumulus of earth, about ten feet high, and seve- 
ral rods in diameter at its base. On its eastern side, and extending 
six rods from it was a semicircular pavement, composed of pebbles 
such as are found in the bed of Sciota river, from whence they 
appear to have been taken. The summit of this tumulus was 
nearly ninety feet in circumference, with a raised way to it, lead- 
ing from the east, like a modern turnpike. The summit was level. 
The outline of the simicircular pavement, and the wall, are still 
discernible. Mr Atwater was present when this mound was re- 
moved and carefully examined the contents it developed. They 
were as follows: — 1. Two skeletons, lying on what had been the 
original surface of the earth. 2. A great quantity of arrow heads, 
some of which were so large as to induce a belief that they were 
used for spear heads. 3. The handle, either of a small sword, or 
a large knife, made of an elk's horn; around the end where the 
blade had been inserted, was a ferule of silver, which, though 
black, was not much injured by time; though the handle showed 
the hole where the blade had been inserted, yet no iron was found,, 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 185 

but an oxyde or rust remained, of similar shape and size. The 
swords of the ancient nations of the old world, it is known, were 
very short. 4. Charcoal, and wood ashes, on which these articles 
lay, were surrounded by several bricks, very well burnt. The 
skeleton appeared to have been burnt in a large and very hot fire,, 
which had almost consumed the bones of the deceased. This 
skeleton was deposited a little to the south of the centre of the 
tumulus; and about twenty feet to the north of it was another, 
with which was found a large mirror, about three feet in length, 
one foot and a half in width, and one inch and a half in thickness; 
this was of isinglass, (mica membranacea.) 

On this mirror was a plate of iron, which had become an oxyde, 
but before it was disturbed by the spade, resembled a plate of cast- 
iron. The mirror answered the purpose very well for which it was 
intended. This skeleton had also been burned like the former, and 
ay on charcoal and a considerable quantity of wood ashes ; a 
part of the mirror is in the possession of Mr. At water, as also a 
piece of brick, taken from the spot at the time. The knife, or 
sword handle, was sent to Peal's museum, Philadelphia. To the 
southwest of this tumulus, about forty rods from it, is another, 
more than ninety feet in height. It stands on a large hill, which 
appears to be artificial. This must have been the common ceme- 
try, as it contains an immense number of human skeletons, of all 
sizes and ages. These skeletons are laid horzontally, with their 
heads generally towards the centre, and the feet towards the out- 
side of the tumulus. In it have been found, besides these skele- 
tons, stone axes and stone knives, and several ornaments, with 
holes through them, by means of which, with a cord passing 
through these perforations, they could be worn by their owners,, 
round the neck. 

Sir Robert Ker Porter says, that in Persia thousands of such 
stones are found belonging to the early ages of that people, and 
that they were considered by the Persians to be endowed with 
supernatural qualities, and were, therefore, made by the people to 
defend them from evil spirits; they are found in great abundance 
among the Hindoos even now. On the south side of this tumulus, 
and not far from it was a semicircular fosse^ or ditch, six feet 
deep; which, when examined at the bottom, was found to con- 
tain a great quantity of human bones, which, it is believed, were 



186 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

the remains of those who had been slain in some great and de- 
structive battle; because they belonged to persons invariably who 
had attained their full size; while those found in the mound adjoin- 
ing, were of all sizes, great and small, but laid in good order, 
while those in the ditch were in the utmost confusion; and were, 
no doubt, the conquered invaders, buried thus ingloriously, where 
they they had intrenched themselves, and fell in the struggle. The 
mirror was a monstrous piece of isinglass, a lucid mineral, larger 
than we recollect to have ever heard of before, and used among 
the rich of the ancients, for lights and mirrors. A mirror of any 
kind, in which men may be enabled to contemplate their own form, 
is evidence of a considerable degree of advancement in the arts, 
if not even of luxury itself. 

The Rev. Robert G. Wilson, D. D., of Chilicothe, furnished 
the Antiquarian Society, with information concerning the mound, 
which once stood near the centre of that town. He took pains to 
write down its contents at the time of its demolition. Its perpen- 
dicular height was about fifteen feet, and the circumference of its 
base about one hundred feet, composed wholly of sand. It 
was not till this pile of earth had been removed, that the original 
design of its builders could be discovered. On a common level 
with the surrounding earth, at the very bottom of this mound, they 
had devoted about twenty feet square; this was found to have been 
covered at first with bark, on which lay a human skeleton, over- 
spread with a mat, manufactured from weeds or bark, but greatly 
decayed. On the breast of this person lay what had been a piece of 
copper in the form of a cross, which had become verdigris; on the 
breast also lay a stone ornament, three inches in length, and two 
and a half in width, with two perforations, one near each end, 
through which passed a string, by means of which it was suspend- 
ed from the wearer's neck. On this string, which appeared to 
have been made of the sinews of some animal, which had been 
€ured or tanned, but were very much injured by time, was strung 
a great many beads, made of ivory or bone, he could not tell which. 
With these facts before us, we are left to conjecture at what time 
this individual lived, what were his heroic deeds in the field of bat- 
tle; his wisdom, his virtues, his eloquence in the councils of his 
nation ; for his cotemporaries have testified in a manner not to 
be mistaken, that among them he was held in honorable and grate- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 187 

ful remembrance, by the mound which was raised over him at his 
decease. The cross on the breast of this skeleton, excites the most 
surprise, as that the cross is the emblem of the Christian religion. 
It is true, a knowledge of this badge of Christianity, may have 
been disseminated from Jerusalem, even as far east as China; as 
we know it was at a very early period, made known in many 
countries of Europe, Africa, and Asia; especially, at the era when 
the Roman emperor Constantine, in the year 331, ordered all the 
heathen temples to be destroyed, for the sake of Christianity, 
throughout his vast dominion. The Gnostic heresy of the first 
centuries of the Christian era, which spread itself into more than 
fifty sects, wandered into all the countries of the known world. — 
In Africa, Asia, and Europe, are still found gems, coins, and va- 
rious precious stones, having engravings upon them the emblems 
of their genii and their mystical characters, mingled with allusions, 
also, to the Christian religion. This cross, therefore, may it not 
have been left on the bosom of this skeleton by some officiating 
priest of the Gnostics, even here in America? (For an account 
of the Gnostics, see the Amulet, 1832, by Marmion Savage, A. B., 
p. 282.) 

The reader may recollect, we have elicited an argument, from 
the age of the timber, or forest trees, growing on the mound, at 
Marietta, proposing to show the probable era when the country be- 
came depopulated; and come to the conclusion, that at least, 
about thirteen hundred years have passed away since that catas- 
trophe. 

This would give about five hundred years from Christ till the 
depopulation of the ancient western country; so that, during the 
lapse of those five centuries, a knowledge of what had been propa- 
gated at Jerusalem about Christ, may have been, easily enough by 
missionaries, travelling philosophers of the Romans, Greeks, or 
of other nations, carried as well to China, as to other distant 
countries, as we know was the fact, during those centuries. The 
string of beads, and the stone on his breast, which we take the 
liberty of calling the Shalgramu stone, or the stone in which the 
Hindoos suppose the god Vishnoo resides; together with the cop- 
per cross on his breast, and beads on his neck, are circumstances, 
which strongly argue that a mixture of Gnosticism, BraJuninism, 
and Christianity were embraced by this individual. To prove that 



188 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

the wearing of beads around the neck, or on the arm, for the pur- 
pose of devotion, is a Hindoo custom, we refer to Ward's late his- 
tory of those nations, who was a Baptist missionary, among that 
people, and died in that country. This author says, (page 40,) 
that Brumha, the grandfather of the gods, holds in his hand, a 
string of beads, as an evidence of his devotion or goodness. 
Ungee, the regent of fire, is represented with a bead roll in his 
hand, to show that he is merciful or propitious to those who call 
upon him. — Page 45. 

The Hindoo mendicants, or saints, have invariably, a string of 
beads, made of bone, teeth of animals, ivory, stones, or the seeds 
of plants, or of something,hanging about their necks, or on their 
arms, which they recount, calling over and over, without end, the 
name of the god, as evidence of devotion to him. — Page 422. 

The devotions of the ascetic disciples among the Hindoos, con- 
sists in repeating incessantly the name of their god, using, at 
the same time, the bead roll, or roasy, as the catholics do. — 
Page 427. 

" Strings of beads were used for this purpose, from remotest- 
antiquity, in all eastern Asia. 7 ' — (Humboldt, p. 204.) 

This author further says, " the rosarie," which is a string of 
beads, " have been in use in Thibet and China,, from time imme- 
morial ; and that the custom passed from the east, viz : China, 
to the Christians in the west, viz: Europe ;" and are found among 
the catholics ; no other sect of Christians, of the latter ages that 
we know of, have borrowed any trappings from the pagans, to 
aid their devotions, but this. The stone found on his breast, as 
before remarked, we assume to call the Shalgramu stone. See 
also, Ward's account of this stone, page 41 and 44, as follows : 
— A stone called the Shalgramu is a form of the god Vishnoo, and 
is in another case, the representative of the god Saoryu, or the 
sun. — Page 52. 

The Shalgramu, or Lingu, is a black stone, found in a part of 
the Gundeekee river. They are mostly perforated, in one or 
more places, by worms, while at the bottom of the river ; but the 
Hindoos believe the god Vishnoo, in the shape of a reptile, resides 
in this stone, and caused the holes. With this belief, how very 
natural it would be to wear on the breast, either in view or con- 
cealed, this stone, as an amulet, or charm, as found on the breast: 






AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 189 

of this skeleton, in union with the cross. We are inclined to 
believe, that the Roman catholic religion, borrowed, . at a very 
early period, after their peculiar formation and corruption, sub- 
sequent to the time of Constantine, the notion of the rosary, or 
bead roll, which they recount while saying prayers, from the Hin- 
doos; and that from Christian missionaries, the Hindoo Brahmins 
borrowed the idea of the cross, which they might also wear, to- 
gether with the Lingu stone, as an amulet or charm. For we see on 
the breast of this person, both the emblem of Christianity, and of 
the Hindoo's superstition, on which account, we are of the opinion 
that the ministers of the Brahmin religion, lie buried beneath 
many of the western mounds. 

. Mr. Ward informs us, page 272, that near the town of Dravi- 
na, in Hondostan-hu, are shown to this day, or at the time he 
lived in India, four small elevations, or mounds, from the top of 
which, the great ascetic philosopher, Shunkuracharyu, used to 
teach and harangue the people and his disciples. From this cir- 
cumstance, we catch a glimpse of the oratorial use of the mounds 
in the east; and why not the same use be derived from them to the 
ancient people of the west ; and more especially so, if they may 
be believed to have, in any measure, derived themselves from 
any nations of the Chinese world. 



Great Works of the Ancient Nations on the North Fork of 
Paint Creek. 

On the north branch of this creek, five miles from Chilicothe, 
are works so immense, that although we have given the reader 
several accounts of this kind, yet we cannot well pass over these. 
They are situated on an elevated piece of land, called the second 
bottom. The first bottom, or flat, extends from Paint creek, till 
it is met by a bank of twenty-five feet in height, which runs in 
a straight line, and parallel with the stream. One hundred rods 
from the top of this first bank, is another bank, of thirty feet in 
height ; the wall of the works runs up this bank, and twenty rods 



190 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

beyond it. The whole land enclosed, is six hundred and twenty 
rods in circumference, and contains one hundred and twenty-six 
acres of land. This second bank runs also parallel with the creek, 
and with the first. On this beautiful elevation, is situated this 
immense work, containing within it, seventeen mounds of different 
sizes. Three hundred and eight rods of this fort are encompassed 
with a wall twelve feet high, a ditch twenty feet wide, and the 
wall the same at its base. Two hundred and forty rods, running 
along on the top of the first bank, is the rest of the wall ; but is 
without a ditch ; this is next to the river or creek, between which 
and the water, is the first bottom or flat. At the time the builders 
of this vast work erected it; it is likely that the Creek run along, 
near the wall, but has now receded, by being drained off, at the 
time the Ohio with other western rivers ruptured the mountains 
which evidently once dammed them up, of which we shall speak 
in due time. Within this great enclosure, is a circular work of 
one hundred rods in circumference, with a wall and ditch sur- 
rounding it, of the same height of the other wall. Within this 
great circle, are six mounds, of the circular form ; these are full 
of humane bones ; the rest of the mounds, eleven in number, are 
for some other purpose. There are seven gateways, of about five 
rods in width each. "The immense labor, and numerous ceme- 
teries filled with human bones, denote a vast population, near this 
spot, in ancient times." — (Atwater.) 

" Tumuli are very common on the river Ohio, from its utmost 
sources to its month, although on the Monongahela, they are few, 
and comparatively small, but increase in number and size, as we 
descend towards the mouth of that stream at Pittsburgh, where the 
Ohio begins; after this they are still more numerous and of great- 
er dimensions, till we arrive at Grave creek, below Wheeling. 
At this place, situated between two creeks, which run into the 
Ohio, a little way from the river, is one of the most extraordinary 
and august monuments of antiquity, of the mound description. 
Its circumference at its base, is fifty-six rods, its perpendicular 
height ninety feet, its top seven rods and eight feet in circumfer- 
ence. The centre at the summit, appears to have sunk several 
feet, so as to form a kind of amphitheatre. The rim enclosing 
this concavity is seven or eight feet in thickness ; on the south 
side, in the edge of this rim, stands a large beech tree, the bark 






AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 191 

of which is marked with the initials of a great number of visi- 
tants." 

This lofty and venerable tumulus has been so far opened as to 
ascertain that it contains many thousands of human skeletons, 
but no farther; the proprietor will not suffer its demolition, in the 
least degree, for which he is highly praiseworthy. 

Following the river Ohio downwards, the mounds appear on 
both sides, erected uniformly on the highest allu vials along that 
stream, increasing in numbers all the way to the Mississippi, on 
which river they assume the largest size. Not having surveyed 
them, (says Mr. Atwater,) we shall use the description of Mr. 
Breckenridge, who travelled much in the west, and among the- 
Indians; and devoted much attention to the subject of these aston- 
ishing western antiquities. 

" These tumuli, (says Mr. Breckenridge,) as well as the fortifi- 
cations, are to be found at the junction of all the rivers along the 
Mississippi, in the most eligible positions for towns, and in the 
most extensive bodies of fertile land. Their number exceeds, 
perhaps three thousand ; the smallest, not less than twenty feet 
in height, and three hundred in circumference at the base. — 
Their great number, and their amazing size, may be regarded 
as furnishing, with other circumstances, evidence of their great 
antiquity. 

I have been sometimes induced to think, that at the period when 
these were constructed, there was a population as numerous as 
that which once animated the borders of the Nile, or the Euph- 
rates. The most numerous, as well as the most considerable of 
these remains, are found precisely in those parts of the country 
where the traces of a numerous population might be looked for, 
namely, from the mouth of Ohio, on the east side of the river, to 
the Illnois, and on the west side, from the St. Francis to the Mis- 
souri. I am perfectly satisfied that cities similar to those of anci- 
ent Mexico, of several hundred thousand souls, have existed in 
this western country." 

From this view we are compelled to look upon those nations as 
agriculturists, or they could not have subsisted ; neither wild 
game nor fish could possibly support so great a population. If 
agriculturists, then it must follow, of necessity, that many modes 
of building, as with stone, timber, earth or clay, and brick were 



192 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

practised and known, as well as methods of clearing the earth of 
heavy timber. And if they had not a knowledge of metals, we 
cannot well conceive how they could have removed the forests for 
the purposes of husbandry, and space for building. But if we 
suppose they did not build houses with wood, stone and brick, but 
lived in tents or some fragile hut, yet the use of metals cannot be 
dispensed with, on account of the forest to be removed for agri- 
cultural purposes. Baron Humboldt informs us, in his Researches 
in South America, that when he crossed the Cordillera mountains, 
by the way of Panama and Assuay, and viewed the enormous 
masses of stone cut from the porhyry quarries of Pullal, which 
was employed in constructing the ancient highroads of the Incas, 
that he began to doubt whether the Peruvians were not acquainted 
with other tools than hatches made of flint and stone ; and that 
grinding one stone on another to make them smooth and level, was 
not the only method they had employed in this operation. On 
which account he adopted a new opinion, contrary to those gene- 
rally received. He conjectured that they must have had tools 
made of copper, hardened with tin, such as it is known the early 
nations of Asia made use of. This conjecture was fully sustained 
by the discovery of an ancient Peruvian mining chisel, in a silver 
mine at Yilcabamba, which had been worked in the time of the 
Incas. This instrument of copper was four inches long, and three- 
fourths of an inch wide ; which he carried with him to Europe, 
where he had it analyzed, and found it to contain ninety-four parts 
of copper and six of tin. He says, that this keen copper of the 
Peruvians is almost identically the same with that of the ancient 
Gallic axe, which cut wood nearly as well as if made of iron and 
steel. 

Every where on the old continent, at the beginning of the civil- 
ization of nations, the use of copper, mixed with tin, prevailed 
over that of iron, even in places where the latter had been for a 
long time known. Antonio de ..Herera, in the tenth book of his 
History of the West Indies, says expressly that the inhabitants of 
the maritime coast of Zoctallan, in America, prepared two sorts 
of copper, of which'one was hard and cutting, and the other mal- 
leable. The hard copper was to make hatchets, weapons and in- 
struments of agriculture with, and that it was tempered with tin. 
—(Humboldt, vol. 1, pp. 260—269.) 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 193 

Among a great variety of the gods of the people of the Tonga 
islands, in the South Pacific ocean, is found one god named To-gi 
Ocummea, which is, literally, the iron axe. From which circum- 
stance we imagine the people of those islands, sometimes called 
the Friendly Islands, were, at some period before their having 
been discovered by Captain Cook, acquainted with the use of iron 
and consequently in a more civilized condition. Because men, in 
those early times, were apt to deify almost every thing, but e 
pecially those things the most useful. 

Were the people of Christendom to lose their knowledge of 
the true God, and to fall back into nature's ignorance, is there 
an article within the compass of the arts which would from its 
usefulness have a higher claim to deification than the metal called 
iron. 

That group of islands belongs to the immense range shooting 
out from New-Holland, in south latitude about 20 deg. and once 
perhaps were united to China, forming a part of the continent. 
But, however this may be, the first inhabitants of those islands 
were derived from China, and carried with them a knowledge of 
the arts; among which was that of the use of iron, in form of 
the axe, which, it appears, had become deified from its useful- 
ness. The reason of the loss of this knowledge, must have been 
the separation of their country from the continent by convulsions, 
from age to age ; which not only altered the shape and condition 
of the land, but threw the inhabitants into confusion, separating 
them far from each other, the sea running between, so that they 
became reduced to savagism, as they were found by the first 
Christian nations. 



Traits of ancient Cities on the Mississippi. 

Nearly opposite St. Louis, there are the traces of two ancient 
cities, in the distance of a few miles, situated on the Cohokia creek, 
which empties into the Mississippi, but a short distance below 
that place. Here is situated one of those pyramids, which is one 
-hundred and fifty rods in circumference at its base, (nearly half 
a mile,) and one hundred feet high. At St. Louis is one with two 

13 



194 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIM 

stages or landing places, as the architectural phrase is. There- 
is another with three stages, at the mouth of the Missouri, a few 
miles above St. Louis. With respect to the stages, or landing 
places of these pyramids, we are reminded of the tower once 
standing in old Babylon, which had eight stages from its base to 
the summit, making it six hundred feet high. At the mouth of 
the Cohokia creek, a short distance below St. Louis, are two 
groups of those mounds, of smaller size, but we are not inform- 
ed of their exact number. AtBayeau Manchac and Baton Rogue,, 
are several mounds, one of which is composed chiefly of shells, 
which the inhabitants burn into lime. There is a mound on 
Black river, which has two stages or stories ; this is surrounded 
with a group of lesser ones, as well as those at Bayeau Manchac, 
and Baton Rouge. There is one of those pyramids near Wash- 
ington, in the State of Mississippi, which is one hundred and forty 
six feet high ; which is little short of nine rods perpendicular ele- 
vation, and fifty-six rods in circumference. Mr. Breckenridge is 
of the opinion that the largest city belonging to this people, the 
authors of the mounds and other works, was situated on the plains 
between St Francis and the Arkansas. There is no doubt but in 
the neighborhood of St. Louis must have been cities or large 
towns of these ancient people ; as the number and size of the 
mounds above recounted would most certainly justify. 

Fifteen miles in a south westerly direction from the town of 
St. Louis, on the Merrimack river, was discovered, by a Mr. 
Long, on lands which he had purchased there, several mounds of 
the ordinary size, as found in the valley of the Mississippi, all of 
which go to establish that this country, lying between the Missouri 
and the Mississippi rivers, below St. Louis, and between the junc- 
tion of the Illinois and the Mississippi above, with the whole re- 
gion about the union of those rivers with each other, — which are 
all not far from St Louis — was once the seat of empire, equal, if 
not surpassing, the population and the arts as once they flourish- 
ed on the plains of Shinar, the seat of Chaldean power, and om 
the banks of the Euphrates. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 195 



Tradition of the Mexican Natives respecting their Migration 
from the North. 

In corroboration of Mr. Atwater's opinion with respect to the 
gradual remove of the ancient people of the west toward Mexico, 
we subjoin what we have gathered from the Researches of Baron 
Humboldt, on that point. See Helen Maria William's translation 
of Humboldt's Researches in America, vol. 2, page 67; from 
which it appears the people inhabiting the vale of Mexico, at the 
time the Spaniards overrun that country, were called Aztecks, or 
Aztekas; and were, as the Spanish history informs us, usurpers, 
having come from the north, from a country which they called 
Aztalan. 

This country of Aztalan, Baron Humboldt says, " we must 
look for at least north of the forty -second degree of latitude." 
He comes to this conclusion from an examination of the Mexican 
or Azteka manuscripts, which were made of a certain kind of 
leaves, and of .skins prepared; on which an account in painted 
hieroglyphics, or pictures, was given of their migration from 
Aztalan to Mexico, and how long they halted at certain places ; 
which, in the aggregate, amounts to " four hundred and sixteen 
years." 

The following names of places appear on their account of their 
journeyihgs, at which places they made less or more delay, and 
built towns, forts, tumuli, &c. 

1st. A place of Humiliation and a place of Grottoes. It would 
seem at this place they were much afflicted and humbled; but in 
what manner is not related; and also at this place, from the term 
grottoes, that it was a place of caverns and dens, probably who re 
they at first hid and dwelt, till they built a town and cleared the 
ground. Here they built the places which they called Tocalco 
and Oztatan. 

2d journey. They stopped at a place of fruit trees ; probably 
meaning, as it was farther south, a place where nature was 
abundant in nuts, grapes, and wild fruit trees. Here they 
built a mound or tumuli; and, in their language, it is called a Te- 
bcali. 

13* 



196 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

3d journey; when they stopped at a place of herbs, with broad 
leaves ; probably meaning a place where many succulent plants 
grew? denoting a good soil, which invited them to pitch their tents 
here. 

4th journey; when they came to a place of human bones ; 
where they, either during their stay, had battles with each oth- 
er, or with some enemy ; or they may have found them al- 
ready there, the relics of other nations before them; for, according 
to Humboldt, this migration of the Aztekas took place A. D. 778; 
so that other nations certainly had preceded them, also from the 
north. 

5th journey; they came to a place of eagles. 

6th journey; to a place of 'precious stones and minerals. 

7th journey; to a place of spinning, where they manufactured 
clothing of cotton, barks, or of something proper for clothing of 
some sort, and mats of rushes and feathers. 

8th journey ; they came to another place of eagles, called 
the Eagle mountain: or, in their own language, Quauktli Tepee: 
Tepee, says Humboldt, in the Turkish language, is the word for 
mountain; which two words are so near alike, tepee, and tepe, 
tjfet if would seem almost an Arab word, or a word used by the 
Turks. 

9th journey; when they came to a place of walls, and the se- 
ven grottoes; which shows the place had been inhabited before, 
and these seven grottoes were either caves in the earth, or were 
made in the side of some mountain, by those who had preceded 
them. 

10th journey; when they came to a place of thistles, sand and 
vultures. 

11th journey; when they came to a place of Obsidian mirrors, 
which is much the same with that of isinglass, scientifically called 
mica membranacea. This mineral substance is frequently found 
in the tumuli of the west, and is called by the Mexicans the shining 
god. The obsidian stone, however, needs polishing before it will 
answer as a mirror. 

12th journey; came to a place of water, probably some lake 
or beautiful fountains, which invited their residence there, on the 
account not only of the water, but for fishing and game. 

13th journey; they came to the place of the Divine Monkey, 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 197 

called, in their own language, Teozomoco. In the most ancient 
Hebrew, this animal is called K-oph, Kooph and Kuphon; in the 
Arabic, which is similar to the Hebrew, it is called K-ha-noos, 
Khanassa, and Chanass; all of which words bear a strong resem- 
blance to the Mexican Te-oz-o-moco, especially to the Arabic 
Khanooss. Here, it would seem, they set up the worship of the 
monkey, or baboon, as the ancient Egyptians are known to have 
done. This animal is found in Mexico, according to Hum- 
boldt. 

- 14th journey; when they came to a high mountain, proba- 
bly with table lands on it, which they called Chopaltepec, or 
mountain of locusts : " A place,' 7 says Baron Humboldt, " cel- 
ebrated for the magnificent view from the' top of this hill ;" 
which, it appears, is in the Mexican country, and probably not 
far from the vale of Mexico, where they finally and permanently 
rested. 

15th journey; when they came to the vale of Mexico ; having 
here met with the prodigy, or fulfilment of the prophecy, or ora- 
cle, which at their outset from the country of Aztalan, Huehue- 
tlapallan, and Amaquemecan; which was, (see Humboldt, vol. 2, 
p. 185,) that the migrations of the Azteks should not terminate 
till the chiefs of the nation should meet with an eagle, perched on 
a cactus tree, or prickly pear; at such a place they might found 
a city. This was, as their bull-hide books inform us, in the vale 
of Mexico. 

We have related this account of the Azteka migration from 
the country of Aztalan, Huehuetlapallan, and Amaquemacan, 
from the regions of north latitude forty-two degrees merely to 
show that the country, provinces, or districts, so named in 
their books, must have been the country of Ohio, Mississippi, 
and Illinois, with the whole region thereabout; for these are not 
far from the very latitude named by Humboldt, as the region of 
Aztalan, &c. 

The western country is now distinguished by the general name 
of the "lake country;" and why? because it is a country of 
lakes; and for the same reason it was called by the Mexican, Az- 
teka, Indians, Aztalans, because in their language atl is water, 
from which Aztalan is doubtless a derivative, as well also, as their 



198 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

own name as a nation, or title, which was Astecas, or people of 
the lakes. 

This account, derived from the Mexicans since their reduction 
by the Spaniards, gathered from the researches of learned travel- 
lers, who have, for the very purpose of learning the origin of the 
people of this country, penetrated not only into the forest retreats 
in the woods of Mexico, but into the mysteries of their hard lan- 
guage, their theology, philosophy and astronomy. This account of 
their migration, as related above, is corroborated by the tradition 
of the Wyandot Indians. 

We come to a knowledge of this tradition by the means of a 
Mr. William Walker, some time Indian agent for our government; 
who, it seems, from a pamphlet published, 1823, by Frederick 
Falley, of Sandusky, giving Mr. Walker's account, that a great 
many hundred years ago, the ancient inhabitants of America, who 
were the authors of the great works of the west, were driven away 
from their country and possessions by barbarous and savage hordes 
of warriors,who came from the north and northeast, before whose 
power and skill in war, they were compelled to flee, and went to 
the south. 

After having been there many hundred years, a runner came 
back into the same country from whence the ancient people had 
been driven, which we suppose is the very country of Aztalan, 
or the region of the western States, bringing the intelligence, 
that a dreadful beast had landed on their coast along the sea, 
which was spreading among them havoc and death, by means of 
fire and thunder ; and that it would no doubt travel all over the 
country, for the same purpose of destruction. This beast, whose 
voice was like thunder, and whese power to kill was like fire, we 
have no doubt represents the cannon and small arms of the Span- 
iards, when they first commenced the murder of the people of 
South America. 



Supposed Uses of the Ancient Roads connected with the 

Mounds. 
Ancient roads, or highways, which in many parts of the west 
are found walled in on both sides for many miles, where the forest 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 199 

trees are growing as abundant, and as large, and aged, as in any 
part of the surrounding woods. We have already mentioned seve- 
ral roads which have always been found connected with some 
great works; as at Piketon, Portsmouth, Newark, Licking county, 
and at the works on the Little Miami river. These roads, where 
they have been traced, are found to communicate with some 
mound, or mountain, which had been shaped by art to suit the 
purposes of those who originated these stupendous works. The 
-circumstance of their being walled in by banks of earth, leaving 
from one to four and six rods space between, has excited inuch 
inquiry as to the reason and purposes of their construction. uBtrt 
may not this grand characteristic of the people of the west in road 
building, be illustrated by comparing a practice of the Mexicans 
with this fact 1 We will show the practice, and then dr w the 
conclusion. 

" The Mexicans believed, according to a very ancient tradi- 
tion, that the end of the world would take place at the termina- 
tion of every cycle of fifty-two years; that the sun would no more 
appear on the horizon, and that mankind would be devoured by 
evil genii of hideous appearance, known under the name of Tzit- 
zimimes. 

"On the last day of this great cycle of time, of fifty-two years, 
the sacred fires were extinguished in all their temples and dwel- 
lings, and every where, all the people devoting themselves to 
prayer; no person daring to light a fire at the approach of the 
night; the vessels of clay were broken, garments torn, and what- 
ever was most precious was destroyed, because every thing ap- 
peared useless at the tremendous moment of the last day; amidst 
this frantic superstition, pregnant women became the objects of pe- 
culiar horror to the men; they caused their faces to be hidden 
with masks made with the paper of the agave; they were even 
imprisoned in the store houses of maize or corn, from a persua- 
sion that if the catastrophe took place, the women, transformed 
into tigers, would make common cause with the evil genii, and 
avenge themselves of the injustice of the men. As soon as it was 
dark, the grand procession, called the festival of the new fire, 
■commenced. The priests took the dresses of the gods, and fol- 
lowed by an immense crowd of people, went in a solemn train to 
&he mountain of Huzachthcatl, which was two leagues or six miles 



200 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

from Mexico. This lugubrious march was called the march of 
the gods; which was supposed to be their final departure from 
their city, and possibly never to return; in which event, the end 
of the world was come. When the procession had reached the 
summit of the mountain, it waited till the moment when the Plei- 
des, or the sevenjstars, ascended the middle of the sky, to begin 
the horrible sacrifice of a hiwman victim, stretched on the stone of 
sacrifice, having a wooden disk on the breast, which the priest 
inflames by friction. The corpse, after having received a wound 
in the breast, which extinguished life, while he was held on the 
fatal stone, was laid on the ground; and the instrument made use 
of to produce fire by friction was placed on the wound, which had 
been made with a knife of obsidian stone. When the bits of wood, 
by the rapid motion of the cylinder, or machine made use of for 
that purpose, had taken fire, an enormous pile, previously pre- 
pared to receive the body of the unfortunate victim, was kindled, 
the flames of which, ascending high into the air, were seen at a 
great distance; when the vast populace of the city of Mexico and 
surrounding country filled the air with joyful shouts and acclama- 
mations. All such as were not able to join in the procession were- 
stationed on the terraces of houses, and on the tops of teocallis, 
or mounds and tumulis, with their eyes fixed on the spot where 
the flame was to appear: which, as soon as it was perceived, was 
a token of the benevolence of the gods, and of the preservation of 
mankind during another cycle of fifty-two years. Messengers 
posted at proper distances from each other, holding branches of 
wood, of a very resinous pine, carried the new fire from village 
to village, to the distance of many leagues, and deposited it anew 
in every temple, from whence it was distributed to all private 
dwellings. When the sun appeared on the horizon, the shouting 
was redoubled, the procession went back from the mountain to 
the city, and they thought they could see their gods also returning 
to their sanctuaries. The women were then released from their 
prisons, every one put on a new dress, the temples were white- 
washed, their household furniture renewed, their plate, and what- 
ever was necessary for domestic use. This secular festival, this 
apprehension of the sun being extinguished at the epoch of the- 
winter solstice, seems to present a new instance of analogy be- 
tween the Mexicans and the inhabitants of Egypt. When the 



AND DISCdVERIES IN THE WEST. 201 

Egyptians saw the sun descend from the Crab towards Capricorn? 
and the days gradually grow shorter, they were accustomed to- 
sorrow, from the apprehension that the sun was going to abandon 
the earth, but when the orb began to return, and the duration of 
the days grew longer, they robed themselves in white gar- 
ments, and crowned themselves with flowers." (Humboldt, p- 
380, 384.) 

This Mexican usage may have been practised by the people of 
the west, as the roads would seem to justify, leading as they do,- 
either to some mountain prepared by art, or to some mound : and 
as these processions took place in the night, so that the Pleiades, 
or seven stars, might be seen, it was necessary that the roads 
should be walled as a defence against an enemy, who might take 
advantage under cover of the night. After having examined 
these accounts of the ancient works of the west, it is natural to- 
ask, who their authors were : this can be answered only by com- 
parison and conjecture, more or less upheld, as circumstances, 
features, manners, and customs of the nations, many resemble 
each other. " If we look into the Bible, we shall there learn, 
that mankind, soon after the deluge, undertook to raise a tower, 
high as heaven or the clouds, designed to keep them together. 
But in this attempt they were disappointed, and themselves dis- 
persed throughout the world. Did they forget to raise afterwards 
similar monuments and places of worship % They did not, and 
to use the words of an inspired writer, " high places," of various 
altitudes and dimensions, were raised on every high hill through- 
out the land of Palestine, and all the east, among the pagan na- 
tions. Some of these " high places" belonged to single families j 
some to mighty chieftains, a petty tribe, a city, or a whole nation. 
At those Ci high places," belonging to great nations, great nation- 
al affairs were transacted. Here they crowned and deposed their 
kings; here they concluded peace, and declared war, and worship- 
ped their gods. The Jews, on many great occasions, assembled 
at Gilgal ; which word signifies " an heap." Shiloh, where the 
Jews frequently assembled to transact great national affairs, and 
perform acts of devotion, was on the top of a high hill. When 
this was forsaken, the loftiest hill of Zion was selected in its stead; 
upon Sinai's awful summit the law of God was promulgated^ 
Solomon's temple was situated upon a high hill, by Divine ap~ 



202 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

pointment. Samaria, a place celebrated, for the worship of idols, 
was built upon the high hill of Shemer, by Qmri, one of the kings 
of Israel. How many hundreds of mounds in this country are 
situated on the highest hills, surrounded by the most fertile soils % 
Traverse the counties of Licking, Franklin, Pickaway, and Ross; 
examine the loftiest mounds, and compare them with those des- 
cribed in Palestine, and a conviction will remain, that as in the 
earliest ages, men preferred the summit of the highest mountains, 
as a love of the same, as a memorial of ancestry, would influence 
posterity to the like custom." — (Atwater.) 

But the most extraordinary mound we have heard of, is men- 
tioned by Schoolcraft, Travels in the West. It is called Mount 
Joliet, and is situated on the river Des Plains, one of the head wa- 
ter rivers of the Illinois. Its situation is such as to give to its 
size its fullest effect, being on a level country with no hill in sight 
to form a contrast. Its height is sixty feet, nearly four rods per- 
pendicular, its length eighty-four rods, its width fourteen, and is 
one hundred and ninety-six rods in circumference on its top, but 
considerably larger, measuring round the base. It has been re- 
marked by Dr. Beck, that this is probably the largest mound with- 
in the limits of the United States. This mound is built on the hor- 
izontal lime stone stratum of the secondary formation, and is 
fronted by the beautiful lake Joliet, which is but fifteen miles long, 
furnishing the most " noble and picturesque spot in all Ameri- 
ca. " (Schoolcraft.) This mound consists of eighteen million 
two hundred and fifty thousand solid feet of earth. How long 
it took to build it, is more than can be made out, as the number 
of men employed, and the facilities to carry on the work, are un- 
known. 

In England, Scotland, and in Wales, they are thus situated. At 
Inch Tuthel, on the river Tay, there is a mound which resembles 
this on the Licking, near Newark. The camp at Comerie is on 
a water of Ruchel, situated on a high alluvion, like that in the 
west. The antiquities of Ardoch are on a water Kneck, their 
walls, ditches, gateways, mounds of defence before them, and 
every thing about them, resembling our works of this character in 
America. 

What Pennant, in his Antiquarian Researches in the north of 
Europe, calls a pratorium, is exactly like the circular works round 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 203 

our mounds, when placed within walls of earth. Catter-thun, two 
miles from Angus, is ascribed to the ancient Caledonians or 
Scotch. Such works are very common in Ohio. One on the 
river Loden, or Lowthe, and another near the river Emet, are ex- 
actly like those in the west. The strong resemblance between the 
works in Scotland and those of the west, I think says Mr. Atwa- 
ter, no man will deny. In various parts of the British isles, as 
well as England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, are abundance of 
those works, which were places of worship, burial, and defence, 
built by the ancient Picts, so called by the Romans, because they 
painted themselves, like the aborigines of this country. At a 
very early period of the globe, a small mound of earth served as 
a sepulchre and an altar, wheron the officiating priest could be 
seen by the surrounding worshippers. Such sacred works may 
be traced from Wales to Russia, quite across that empire north, 
to our continent ; and then across this continent, from the Co- 
lumbia on the Pacific ocean, to the Black river, on the east end 
of lake Ontario ; thence turning in a southwestern direction, 
we find them extending quite to the southern parts of Mexico and 
Peru. 

" If there exists," says Dr. Clarke, " any thing of former 
times which may afford evidence of autediluvian manners, it is 
this mode of burial ; which seems to mark the progress of po- 
pulation in the first ages after the dispersion, occasioned by the 
confusion of languages, at Babel. Whether under the form of a 
mound in Scandinavia and Russia, a barrow in England, or cairn 
in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, or heaps of earth, which the 
modern Greeks and Turks call tepe, and the Mexicans tepee; and 
lastly, in the more artificial shape of a pyramid, in Egypt : they 
had universally the same origin." 

Here we have the unequivocal opinion of a man who has scarce- 
ly his fellow, respecting a knowledge of the ancient manners of 
mankind ; who says, that the tumuli, found in all parts of the 
earth, belong solely to the age immediately succeeding Noah's 
flood ; which greatly favors our opinion, that this country was 
settled as early as the other parts of the earth, which are at as 
great a distance from Mount Ararat and Babylon. 

But what is the distance from Mount Ararat by way of Bhering's 
strait, to the middle of the United States, which is the region of 



204 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

the Missouri ? It is something over ten thousand miles ; nearly 
half the circuit of the globe. Here, in the region of the western 
states, we have, by the aid of Baron Humboldt, supposed the 
country of Aztalan was situated ; where the great specimens of 
labor and ancient manners are most abundant. If this was the 
way the first peoplecame into America, it is very clear they could 
not, in the ordinary way of making a settlement here and there, 
have arrived soon enough to show signs of as great antiquity, in 
their works in America, as those of the same sort found in the 
north of Europe. Some other way, therefore, we are confident, 
the first inhabitants must have pursued, so that their works in 
America might compare, in character and antiquity, with those 
of other nations. From Ararat, in a westerly course, passing 
through Europe, by way of the countries now situated in Russia 
in Europe, to the Atlantic, the distance is scarcely 5000 miles ; 
not half the distance the route of Bhering's strait would have 
been. And if the Egyptian tradition be true respecting the is- 
land A^talantis, and the conjectures of naturalists about a union 
of Europe and America on the north, there was nothing to hinder 
their settling here, immediately after their dispersion. 

It is supposed the first generations immediately succeeding the 
flood, were much more enlightened than many nations since that 
period ; the reason is, they had not yet forgotten that which they 
had learned of the manners of their antediluvian ancestors, from 
Noah : but as they spread and diverged asunder; what they had 
learned from him concerning the creation, architecture, and the 
culture of the earth before the flood, they lost, and thus retrograd- 
ed to savagism. 

It is true, the family of Shem, of whom were Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, by the particular Providence of God, retained unadul- 
terated, the traditional history of the creation, and of man, till the 
time Moses embodied it in a book, 857 years after the flood. But 
the rest of the nations were left, in this respect, to mere recollec- 
tions; which, as soon as they divided and subdivided, became con- 
tradictory and monstrous in their accounts. 

But the authors of the great works found in the west, seem to 
have retained the first ideas received from their fathers at the era 
of the building of Babel, equally, if not superior, to many nations 
of Europe, as they were in the year 800 after Christ. This is 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 205 

consented to on all hands, and even contended for by the histo- 
rian Humboldt. In order to show the reader the propriety of 
believing that a colony, very soon after the confusion of the 
language of mankind, found their way to what is now called Ame- 
rica, we give the tradition of the Azteca, nation, who once in- 
habited Aztalan, the country of the western states, but were, at 
the era of the conquest of South America, found inhabiting the 
vale of Mexico, because they had, as we have shown, been 
driven away by the irruptions of the Tartarian Indians, as fol- 
lows : see below. 



Traits of the Mosaic History found among the Azteca 
Nations. 

The tradition commences with an account of the deluge, as 
they had preserved it in books made of the buffalo and deer 
skin, on which account there is more certainty than if it had 
been preserved by mere oral tradition, handed down from father 
to son. 

They begin by painting, or as we would say, by telling us that 
Noah, whom they call Tezpi, saved himself, with his wife whom 
they call Xochiquetzal, on a raft or canoe. Is not this the ark ? 
The raft. or canoe rested on or at the foot of a mountain, which 
-they call Colhuacan. Is not this Ararat ? The men born after 
this deluge. were born dumb. Is not this the confusion of language 
at Babel 1 A dove from the top of a tree distributes languages to 
them in the form of an olive leaf. Is not this the dove of Noah, 
which returned with that leaf in her mouth, as related in Genesis? 
They say, that on this raft, beside Tezpi and his wife, were seve- 
ral children, and animals, with grain, the preservation of which 
was of importance to mankind. Is not this in almost exact ac- 
cordance with what was saved in the ark with Noah, as stated in 
Genesis ? 

When the Great Spirit, Tezcatlipoca, ordered the waters to 
withdraw, Tezpi sent out from his raft a vulture, which never re- 
lumed, on account of the great quantities of dead carcasses which 



206 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

it found to feed upon. Is not this the raven of Noah, which did 
not return when it was sent out the second time, for the very rea- 
son here assigned by the Mexicans ? Tezpi sent other birds,one 
of which was the humming bird ; this bird alone returned, hold- 
ing in its beak a branch covered with leaves. Is not this the 
dove % Tezpi, seeing that fresh verdure now clothed the earth, 
quitted his raft near the mountain of Colhuacan. Is not this an 
allusion to Ararat of Asia ? They say the tongues which the 
dove gave to mankind, were infinitely varied ; which, when re- 
ceived, they immediately dispersed. But among them there were 
fifteen heads or chiefs of families, which were permitted to speak 
the same language, and these were the Taltecs, the Aculhu- 
cans, and Azteca nations, who embodied themselves together, 
which was very natural, and travelled, they knew not where, but 
at length arrived in the country of Aztalan, or the lake country 
in America. 

The plate or engraving presented here, is a surprising repre- 
sentation of the deluge of Noah, and of the confusion of the 
ancient language, at the building of the tower of Babel, as related 
in the book of Genesis, (see chap. vii. and xi.) 

We have derived the subject of this plate from Baron Humboldtfs 
volume of Researches in Mexico, who found it painted on a manu- 
script book, made of the leaves of some kind of tree, suitable for 
the purpose, after the manner of the ancient nations of the sultry 
parts of Asia, around the Mediterranean. 

Among the vast multitude of painted representations found by 
this author, on the books of the natives, made also frequently of 
prepared sinks of animals, were delineated all the leading circum- 
stances and history of the deluge, of the fall of man, and of the 
seduction of the woman by the means of the serpent, the first 
murder as perpetrated by Cain, on the person of his brother 
Abel. 

The plate, however, here presented, shows no more than a 
picture of the flood, with Noah afloat on a raft, or as the tradi- 
tions of some of the nations say, on a tree, a canoe, and some 
say even in a vessel of huge dimensions. It also shows, by the 
group of men approaching the bird, a somewhat obscure history 
of the confusion of the ancient language, at the building of Babel, 
by representing them as being born dumb, who receive the gift of 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 20T 

speech from a dove, which flutters in the branches of the tree , 
while she piesents the languages to the mute throng, by bestowing 
upon each individual a leaf of the tree, which is shown in the 
form of small commas suspended from its beak. 

Among the different nations, according to Humboldt, who inha- 
bited Mexico, were found paintings which represented the deluge, 
or the flood of Tezpi. The same person among the Chinese is 
called Fohi and Yu-ti, which is strikingly similar in sound to the 
Mexican Tezpi, in which they show how he saved himself and 
his wife, in a bark, or some say, in a canoe, others, on a raft, 
which they call, in their language, a huahuate. 

The painting, of which the plate is the representation, shows 
Tezpi, or Noah, in the midst of the waters, lying on his back. 
The mountain, the summit of which is crowned by a tree, and 
rises above the waters, is the peak of Colhucan, the Ararat of 
the Mexicans. At the foot of the mountain, on each side, appear 
the heads of Noah and his wife. The woman is known by the 
two points extending up from her forehead, which is the univer- 
sal designation of the female sex among the Mexicans. The 
horn at the left hand of the tree, with a human hand pointing to 
it, is the character representing a mountain, and the head of a 
bird placed above the head of Tezpi or Noah, shows the vulture 
which the Mexicans say Tezpi sent out of his acalli or boat to see 
if the waters had subsided. 

In the figure of the bird, with the leaves of a tree in its beak, 
is shown the circumstance of the dove's return to the Ark, when 
it had been sent out the second time, bringing a branch of the 
olive in its mouth; but in their tradition it had become misplaced, 
and is made the author of the languages. That birds have a 
language, was believed by the nations of the old world. Some of 
those nations retain a surprising traditional account of the deluge j 
who say, that Noah embarked in a spacious acalli or boat, with 
his wife, his children, several animals, and grain, the preserva- 
tion of which was of great importance to mankind. When the 
Great Spirit, Tezcatlipoca, ordered the waters to withdraw, 
Tezpi, or Noah, sent out from his boat a vulture. But the bird's 
natural food was that of dead carcasses, it did not return, on ac- 
count of the great number of dead carcasses with which the earth, 
now dried in some places abounded. 



208 . AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Tezpi sent out other birds, one of which was the humming- 
bird; this bird alone returned again to the boat, holding in its beak 
•a branch, covered with leaves. Tezpi now knowing that the 
earth was dry, being clothed with fresh verdure, quitted his bark 
near the mountain Colhucan, or Ararat. A tradition of the same 
fact, the deluge, is also found among the Indans of the Northwest. 
I received, (says a late travellar,) the following account from a 
Chief of one of the tribes, in his own words, in the english: — 
* i An old man, live great while ago, he wery good man, he have 
three son. The Great Spirit, tell him, go make raft — build wig- 
wam on top: for he make it rain wery much. When, this done, 
Great Spirit, say, put in two of all the creatures, then take sun, 
moon — all the stars, put them in — get in himself, with his Equa> 
(wife) children, shut door, all dark outside. Then it rain much 
hard, many days. When they stay there long time — Great Spirit 
say, old mar, go out. So he take,* diving animal, sa goy see if 
find the earth: so he went, come back, not find any thing. Then 
he wait few days — send out mushquash, see what he find. When 
he come back, brought some mud in he paw; old man wery glad; 
he tell mushquash, you wery good, long this world stand, be 
plenty mushquash, no man ever kill you all. Then few days 
more, he take wery prety bird, send him out, see what it find; that 
bird no come back: so he send out one white bird, that come 
back, have grass in he mouth. So old man know water going 
down. The Great Spirit say, old man, let sun, moon, stars go 
out, old . man too. He go out, raft on much big mountain when 
he, see prety bird, he send out first, eating dead things — he say, 
bird you do no right, when me send, you no come back, you 
must be black, you no prety bird any more — you always eat bad 
things. So it was black." 

The purity of those traditions is evidence of two things: first,, 
that the book of Genesis, as written by Moses, is not as some 
have imagined, a cunningly devised fable, as these Indians cannot 
be accused of Christian, nor of Jewish priestcraft, their religion 
being of another cast. And second, that the contents of America, 
Europe, Africa, and Asia, were anciently united, so that the 
earlier nations came directly over after the confusion of the 
ancient language and dispersion — on which account its purity has 
been preserved more than among the more wandering tribes of 
ghe old continents. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 209 

As favoring this idea of their (the Mexicans) coming immedi- 
ately from the region of the tower of Babel, their tradition goes on 
to inform us, that the tongues distributed by this bird were infinitely 
various, and dispersed over the earth; but that it so happened 
that fifteen heads of families were permitted to speak the same 
language, these are the same shown on the plate. These travel- 
led till they came to a country which they called Aztalan, sup- 
posed to be in the regions of the now United States, according to 
Humboldt. The word Aztalan signifies in their language, water, 
or a country of much water. Now, no country on the earth bet- 
ter suits this appellation than the western country, on account of 
the vast number of lakes found there, and is even, by us, called 
the lake country. 

There is another particular in this group of naked, dumb hu- 
man beings, worthy of notice, which is, that neither their coun- 
tenances nor form of their persons agree at all with the counte- 
nances or formation of the common Indians; they suit far bet- 
ter to the face of the ancient Britons, Greeks, Romans, Cartha- 
ginians and Persians. The Persians are supposed to have been 
the progenitors of the German tribes. 

If so, it is evident, lhat the Indians are not the first people who 
found their way to this country. Among these ancient nations 
are found many traditions corresponding to the accounts given 
by Moses, respecting the creation, the fall of man by the 
means of a serpent— the murder of Abel by his brother, &c; all 
of which are denoted in.their paintings, as found by the earlier 
travellers among them, since the discovery of America by 
Columbus, and carefully copied from their books of prepared 
hides, which may be called parchment, after the manner of the 
ancients of the earliest ages. We are pleased when we find such 
evidence, as it goes to the establishment of the truth, of the his- 
torical parts of the old Testament, evidence so far removed from 
the sceptic's charge of priestcraft here among the unsophis- 
cated nations of the woods of America. 

Clavigero, in his history of Mexico, says that among the Chiap- 
anese Indians, was found an ancient manuscript in the language 
of that country, made by the Indians themselves, in which it was 
said, according to their ancient tradition, that a certain person, 
named Votan, was present at that great building, which was made 

14 



210 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

by order of his uncle, in order to mount up to heaven; that then* 
every people was given their language, and that Votan himself was 
charged by God to make the division of the lands of Anahuac — 
so Noah divided the earth among his sons. Votan may have 
been Noah, or a grandson of his. 

Of the ancient Indians of Cuba, several historians of America 
relate, that when they were interrogated by the Spaniards concern- 
ing their orign, they answered, they had heard from their ances- 
tors, that God created the heavens and the earth, and all things: 
that an old man having foreseen the deluge with which God de- 
signed to chastise the sins of men, built a large canoe and embark- 
ed in it with his family, and many animals; that when the inun- 
dation ceased, he sent out a raven, which, because it found food 
suited to its nature to feed on, never returned to the canoe; that 
he then sent out a pigeon, which soon returned, bearing a branch 
of the. Hoba tree, a certain fruit tree of America, in its mouth; 
that when the old man saw the earth dry, he disembarked, 
and having made himself wine of the wood grape, he became in- 
toxicated and fell asleep; that then one of his sons made ridicule 
of his nakedness, and that another son piously covered him; that, 
upon waking, he blessed the latter and cursed the former. 
Lastly, these islanders held that they had their origin from the 
accursed son, and therefore went almost naked; that the Span- 
iards, as they were clothed, descended perhaps from the other. 

Many of the nations of America, says Clavigero, have the 
same tradition, agreeing nearly to what we have already related. 
It was the opinion of this author, that the nations who peopled 
the Mexican empire, belonged to the posterity of Naphtuhim — 
(the same, we imagine, with Japheth;) and that their ancestors 
having left Egypt not long after the confusion of the ancient 
language, travelled towards America, crossing over on the isth- 
mus, which it is supposed once united America with the African 
continent, but since has been beaten down by the operation of the 
waters of the Atlantic on the north, and Southern ocean on the 
south, or by the operation of earthquakes. 

Now we consider the comparative perfection of the preserva- 
tion of this Bible account, as an evidence that the people among 
whom it was found must have settled in this country at a very 
early period of time, after the flood, and that they did not wander 
any more, but peopled the continent, cultivating it, building towrs 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 211 

and cities, after their manner; the vestiges of which are so abun- 
dant to this day; and on this account, viz , their fixedness,, their 
traditionary history was not as liable to become lost, as it would 
have undoubtedly been, had they wandered, as many other na- 
tions of the old world have done. As evidence of the presence 
of a Hindoo population in the southern, as well as the western 
parts of North America; we bring the Mexican traditions, re- 
specting some great religious teacher who once came among them. 
These say, that a wonderful personage, whom they name Quetzal- 
coatl, appeared among them, who was a white and bearded man. 
This person assumed the dignity of acting as a priest and legis- 
lator, and became the chief of a religious sect, which like the 
Songasis,, and the Boudhists of Hindostan, inflicted on them- 
selves the most cruel penances. He introduced the custom of 
piercing the lips and ears, and lacerating the rest of the body, 
with the prickles of the agave and leaves, the thorns of the cac- 
tus, and of putting reeds into the wounds, in order that the blood 
might be seen to trickle more copiously. In all this, says Hum- 
boldt, we seem to behold one of those Rishi, hermits of the Gan- 
ges, whose pious austerity is celebrated in the books of the Hin- 
doos. Jewitt, a native of Boston, who lately died at Hartford, 
Conn., was some few years since, captured with the crew of the 
vessel in which he had sailed, by the Nootka Indians, at Nootka 
sound, on the Pacific. In his narrative of his captivity and suf- 
ferings, he states that those Indians had a religious custom, very 
similar to those- of the Hindoos, now in use about the temple of 
Juggernaut, in India; which was that of piercing their sides with 
long rods, and leaping about while the rods were in the wounds* 
Respecting this white and bearded man, much is said in their 
tradition, recorded in their books of skin, and among other things, 
that after a long stay with them he suddenly left them, promising 
to return again, in a short time, to govern them and renew their 
happiness. This person resembles, very strongly, in his promise 
to return again, the behavior of Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, 
who, on his departure from Lacedaemon, bound all the citizens 
under an oath, both for themselves and posterity, that they would 
neither violate nor abolish his laws till his return ; and soon after, 
in the Isle of Crete, he put himself to death, so that his return 
became impossible. 



~^12 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

It was the posterity of this man whom the unhappy Montezuma 
thought he recognized in the soldiers of Cortez, the Spanish con- 
queror of Mexico. si We know, 77 said the unhappy monarch, in 
his first interview with the Spanish general, "by our books, that 
myself and those who inhabit this country, are not natives but 
strangers, who came from a great distance. We know, also, that 
the chief who led our ancestors hither, returned for a certain time, 
to his primitive country, and thence came back to seek those who 
were here established, who after a while, returned again, alone. 
We always believed that his descendants would one day come to 
take possession of this country. Since you arrive from that re- 
gion where the sun rises, I cannot doubt but that the king who 
sends you is our natural master. 77 

Humboldt says, that the Azteca tribes left their country, Azta- 
lan, in the year of our Lord 544; and wandered to the south or 
southwest, coming at last to the vale of Mexico. Ii would appear, 
.from this view, that as the nations of Aztalan, with their fellow 
nations, left vast works, and a vast extent of country, apparently 
in a state of cultivation, with cities and villages, more in number 
than three thousand, as Breckenridge supposed, that they must, 
therefore, have settled here long before the Christian era. 

The peculiar doctrines of the Hindoos, we are informed, were 
commenced to be taught in the east, among what is now called the 
Hindoo nations, by Zoroaster, about the time of Solomon, 500 
years before the time of Confucius, who was born 551 b. c. So 
that there was time for those doctrines of Confucius and Zoro- 
aster to take root in China, and to become popular, and also to 
reach America, by Hindoo missionaries, and overspread these 
regions long before the commencement of the Christian era. 

Of Zoroaster, it is said, that he wrote of the coming of the 
Messiah in plain words; and that the " wise men 77 of the east, who 
saw his star, were of his disciples, or sect. This doctrine he must 
have learned of the Jews whose books and theology had, when 
Zoroaster flourished, gone far among many nations from which 
they borrowed many things. But the peculiar doctrine of Con- 
fucius, which was the worship of fire as well as that of the sun, 
by Zoroaster, it is likely, was derived from the account he found 
among the archieves of the Jews, respecting the burning busk of 
Moses, which had taken place more than a thousand years before 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 21t> 

the time of Confucius. From this originated, in all probability,. 
as taught by Confucius, the burning of heroes, when dead, among 
many nations; and from this, that of immolating widows, as 
among the Hindoos, on the funeral pile, taught by the Brahmin 
missoinaries, who, undoubtedly, visited America, and planted 
their belief among these nations; the tokens of which appear so 
abundantly in the mounds and tumuli of the west. 

And this Quetzalcotl, a celebrated minister of those opinions, ap- 
pears to have been the first who announced the religion of the east 
among the people of the west. There was also one other minister, 
or Brahmin, who appeared among the Mozca tribes in South Ame- 
rica, whom they named Bocliica. This personage taught the wor- 
ship of the sun; and if we were to judge, should pronounce him a 
missionary of the Confucian system, a worshipper of fire, which 
was the religion of the ancient Persians, of whose country Confu- 
cius was a native. This also is evidence that the first inhabitants - 
of America came here at a period near the flood, long before that 
worship was known, or they would have had a knowledge of this 
Persian worship, which was introduced by Bocliica among the 
American nations, which, it seems, they had not, until taught by 
this man. 

Bochica, it appears, became a legislator among those nations?-. 
and changed the form of their government to a form, the con- 
struction of which, says Baron Humholdt, bears a strong analogy 
to the governments of Japan and Thibet, on account of the 'pon- 
tiffs holding in their hands both the secular and the spiritual 
reins. In Japan, an island on the east of Asia, or rather many: 
islands, which compose the Japanese empire, is found a religious 
sect, styled Sint0, who do not believe in the sanguinary rites 
of shedding either human blood, or that of animals, to propitiate- 
their gods; they Oven abstain from animal food, and detest blood- 
shed, and will not touch any dead body. — (Morse's Geography... 
p. 523.) 

There is in South America a whole nation who eat nothing but: 
Vegetables, and who hold in abhorrence those who feed on flesh,. 
—(Humboldt, p. 200.) 

Such a coincidence in the religion of nations can scarcely be 
supposed to exist, unless they are of one origin. Therefore, from 
what we have related above, and a few pages back, it is clear,- 



214 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

hoXh from the tradition of the Aztekas, who lived in the western 
regions before they went to the south, and from the fact that na- 
tions on the Asiatic side of Bhering's strait having come annu- 
ally over the strait to fight the nations of the northwest, that we, 
in this way, have given conclusive and satisfactory reasons why, 
in the western mounds and tumuli, are found evident tokens of 
the presence ©f a Hindoo population ; or, at least, of nations 
influenced by the superstitions of that people, through the means 
of missionaries of those casts, and that they did not bring those 
opinions and ceremonies with them, when they first left Asia, 
after the confusion of the antediluvian language, as led on by 
their fifteen chiefs ; till, by some means, and at some period, 
they finally found this country — not by the way of Bhering's strait, 
but some nearer course, as we have conjectured in other places in 
this work. 

Perhaps a few words on the supposed native country of 
Quetzalcotl may be allowed ; who, as we have stated, is reported 
to have been a white and bearded man, by the Mexican Aztekas. 
There is a vast range of islands on the northeast of Asia, in the 
Pacific, situated not very far from Bhering's strait, in latitude 
between forty and fifty degrees north. The inhabitants of these 
islands, when first discovered, were found to be far in advance 
in the arts and civilization, and a knowledge of government, of 
their continental neighbors, the Chinese and Tartars. The 
island of Jesso, in particular, is of itself an empire, compara- 
tively, being very populous, and are also highly polished in their 
manners. The inhabitants may be denominated white — their 
women especially, whom Morse, in his geography of the Japan, 
Jesso, and others in that range, says expressly are white, fair and 
ruddy. Humboldt says they are a bearded race of men, like Eu- 
ropeans. 

It appears the ancient government of these islands, especially 
that of Japan, which is neighbor to that of Jesso, was in the hands 
of spiritual monarchs and pontiffs, till the seventeenth century. 
As this was the form of government introduced by Quetzalcotl, 
when he first appeared among the Azteka tribes, which we sup- 
pose was in the country of Aztalan, or western States, may it not 
be conjectured that he was a native of some of those islands, who 
in his wanderings had found his way hither, on errands of bene- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 215 

volence; as it is said in the tradition respecting him, that he 
preached peace among men, and would not allow any other offer- 
ing to the divinity than the first fruits of the harvest, which doc- 
trine was in character with the mild and amiable manners of the 
inhabitants of those islands. And that peculiar and striking re- 
cord, found painted on the Mexican skin-books, which describes 
him to have been a white and bearded man, is our other reason for 
supposing him to have been a native of some of these islands, and 
most probably Jesso, rather than any other country. 

The inhabitants of these islands originated from China, and with 
them undoubtedly carried the Persian doctrines of the worship of 
the sun and fire; consequently, we find it taught to the people of 
. Aztalan and Mexico, by such as visited them from China, or the 
islands above named; as it is clear the sun was not the original 
object of adoration in Mexico, but rather the power which made 
the sun. So Noah worshipped. ' 

Their traditions also recognize another important chief, who led 
the Azteka tribes first to the country of Aztalan, long before the 
appearance of Quetzalcotl, or Bochica, among them. This great 
leader they name Tecpaltzin, and doubtless allude to the time 
when they first found their way to America, and settled in the 
western region. 



A Description of the Ceremonies of Fire-Worship, as prac- 
tised by certain Tribes on the Arkansas. 

Mr. Ash witnessed an exhibition of fire-worship, or the worship 
of the sun, as performed by a whole tribe at the village of Ozark, 
near the mouth of the Ozark, or Arkansas river, which empties 
into the Mississippi from the west. 

He says he arrived at the village at a very fortunate period; at 
a time when it was filled with Indians, and surrounded with their 
camp. They amounted to about 900, and were composed of the 
remnants of various nations, and were worshippers of the sun. 



216 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

The second day after his arrival happened to be the grand 
festival among them. He had the most favorable opportunity of* 
witnessing their adorations at three remarkable stages — the sun's 
rising, meridian and setting. 

The morning was propitious, the air serene, the horizon clear, 
the weather calm. The nations divided into classes; warriors, 
young men and women, and married men with their children. 
Each class stood in the form of a quadrant, that each individual 
might behold the rising luminary, and each class held up a particu- 
lar offering to the sun the instant he rose in his glory. The war- 
riors presented their arms, the young men and women offered ears 
of corn and branches of trees, and married women held up to his 
light their infant children. These acts were performed in silence, 
till the object of their adoration visibly rose; when, with one im- 
pulse, the nations burst into praise, and sung a hymn in loud cho- 
rus. The lines, which were sung with repetitions, and . marked 
by pauses, were full of sublimity and judgment. Their meaning, 
when interpreted, is as follows : 

" Great Spirit ! master of our lives. Great Spirit ! master of 
things visible and invisible, and who daily makes them visible and 
invisible. Great Spirit! master of every other spirit, good or bad; 
command the good to be favorable to us, and deter the bad from 
the commission of evil. O Grand Spirit ! preserve the strength 
and courage of our warriors, and augment their number, that 
they may resist the oppression of the Spanish enemies, and re- 
cover the country, and the rights of our fathers. O Grand Spirit! 
preserve the lives of such of our old men as are inclined to give 
counsel and example to the young. Preserve our children, multi- 
ply their number, and let them be the comfort and support of de- 
clining age. Preserve our corn and our animals, and let no fa- 
mine desolate the land. Protect our villages, guard our lives. O 
Great Spirit ! when you hide your light behind the western hills, 
protect us from the Spaniards, who violate the night, and do evil 
which they dare not commit in the presence of your beams. Good 
Spirit ! make known to us your pleasure, by sending to us the 
Spirit of Dreams. Let the Spirit of Dreams proclaim your will 
in the night, and we will perform it through the day; and if it 
say the time of some be closed, send them, Master of Life ! to 
the great country of souls, where they may meet their fathers, 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 2 IT 

mothers, children and wives, and where you are pleased to shine 
upon them with a bright, warm and perpetual blaze ! O Grand ! 
O Great Spirit! hearken to the voice of nations, hearken to all thy 
children, and remember us always, for we are descended from 
thee." 

Immediately after this address, the four quadrants formed one 
immense circle, of several deep, and danced and sung hymns de- 
scriptive of the power of the sun, till near ten o'clock. They 
then amused and refreshed themselves in the village and camp, 
but assembled precisely at the hour of twelve, and formed a 
number of circles, commenced the adoration of the meridian 
sun. The following is the literal translation of the mid-day ad- 
dress: 

"Courage, nations ! courage ! the Great Spirit looks down upon 
us from his highest seat, and by his lustre appears content with 
the children of his own power and greatness. Grand Spirit ! how 
great are his works, and how beautiful are they ! How good is 
the Great Spirit ! He rides high to behold us. ? Tis he who causes 
all things to augment and to act. He even now stands for a mo- 
ment to hearken to us. Courage, nations ! courage ! The Great 
Spirit, now above our heads, will make us vanquish our enemies; 
he will cover our fields with corn, and increase the animals of our 
woods. He will see that the old be made happy, and that the 
young augment. He will make the nations prosper, make them 
rejoice, and make them put up their voice to him, while he rises 
and sets in their land, and while his heat and light can thus glori- 
ously shine out." 

This was followed by dancing and hymns, which continued 
from two to three hours; at the conclusion of which, dinners were 
served and eaten with great demonstrations of mirth and hilarity. 
Mr. Ash says he dined in a circle of chiefs, on a barbecued hog,. 
and venison very well stewed, and was perfectly pleased with the 
repast. The dinner and repose after it continued till the sun was 
on the point of setting. On this being announced by several who 
had been on the watch, the nations assembled in haste, and 
formed themselves into segments of circles in the face of the sun, 
presenting their offerings during the time of his descent, and cry- 
ing aloud: 

" The nations must prosper ; they have been beheld by the. 



^218 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Great Spirit. What more can they want 1 Is not that happi- 
ness enough ? See ! he retires, great and content, after having 
visited his children with light and universal good. O Grand 
Spirit ! sleep not long in the gloomy west, but return and call 
your people once again to light and life, to light and life, to light 
and life." 

This was succeeded by dances and songs of praise, till eleven 
o'clock at night; at which hour they repaired to rest, some retir- 
ing to the huts that formed their camp, and others to the vicinity 
of fires made in the woods, and along the river bank. Mr. Ash 
took up his abode with a French settler in the village. He un- 
derstood that these Indians have four similar festivals in the 
year — one for every season. When the sun does not shine or 
appear on the adoration days, an immense fire is erected, around 
which the ceremonies are performed with equal devotion and 
care. 



Origin of Fire- Worship. 



For many ages the false religions of the east had remained 
stationary; but in this period, magianism received considerable 
strength from the writings of Zoroaster. He was a native of Me- 
dia. He pretended to a visit in heaven, where God spoke to him 
out of a fire. This fire he pretended to bring with him on his 
return. It was considered holy — the dwelling of God. The 
priests were forever to keep it, and the people were to worship 
before it. He caused fire temples every where to be erected, that 
storms and tempests might not extinguish it. As he considered 
God as dwelling in the fire, he made the sun to be his chief resi- 
dence, and therefore the primary object of worship. He aban- 
doned the old system of two gods, one good and the other evil, and 
taught the existence one Supreme, who had under him a good and 
evil angel — the immediate authors of good and evil. To gain 
reputation, he retired into a cave, and there lived a long time a 
recluse, and composed a book called the Zend-Avesta, which con- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 219 

tains the liturgy to be used in the fire temples, and the chief doc- 
trines of his religion. His success in propagating his system was 
astonishingly great. Almost all the eastern worlds for a season, 
bowed before him. He is said to have been slain, with eighty of 
his priests, by a Scythian prince, whom he attempted to convert 
to his religion. 

It is manifest that he derived his whole system of God's dwell- 
ing in the fire, from the burning bush, out. of which God spake to 
Moses. He was well acquainted with the Jewish Scriptures. He 
gave the same history of the creation and deluge that Moses had 
given, and inserted a great part of the Psalms of David into his 
writings. The Mehestani, his followers, believed in the immor- 
tality of the soul, in future rewards and punishments^ and in the 
purification of the body by fire; after which they would be united 
to the good. — (Marsh's Ecclesiastical History, p. 78.) From the 
same origin, that of the burning bush, it is altogether probable the 
worship of fire, for many ages, obtained over the whole habitable 
earth; and is still to be traced in the funeral piles of the Hindoos, 
the beacon fires of the Scotch and Irish, the periodical midnight 
fires of the Mexicans, and the Council fires of the North Ameri- 
can Indians, around which they dance. 

A custom among the natives of New Mexico, as related by 
Baron Humboldt, is exactly imitated by a practice found still in 
some parts of Ireland, among the descendants of the ancient 
Irish. 

At the commencement of the month of November, the great fire 
of Sumhuin is lit up, all the culinary fires in the kingdom being 
first extinguished, as it was deemed sacrilege to awaken the win- 
ter's social flame except by a spark snatched from this sacred fire; 
on which account the month of November is called, in the Irish 
language, Samhuin. 

To this day, the inferior Irish look upon bonfires as sacred; 
they say their prayers, walking round them, the young dream upon 
their ashes, and the old take this fire to light up their domestic 
hearths, imagining some secret undefinable excellence connected 
with it. 



220 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 



A Further Account of Western Antiquities. 

44 1 have a brick/* says Mr. Atwater, " now before me, over 
which lay, when found, wood, ashes, charcoal and human bones, 
burnt in a large and hot fire; and from what was found at Circle- 
ville, in the mound already described, it would seem that females 
were sometimes burnt with the males. I need not say that this 
custom was derived from Asia, as it is well known that is the only 
country to look to for the origin of such a custom. The Greeks 
and Romans practised burning their illustrious dead; it was prac- 
tised by several other nations ; but they all derived it from 
Asia."' 

In Dr. Clarke's volume of Travels from St. Petersburgh to the 
Crimea, in the year 1800, and his Travels in Russia, Tartary 
and Turkey, it is said conical mounds of earth, or tumuli, occur 
very frequently. The most remarkable may be seen between Ye- 
zolbisky and Yoldai, on both sides of the road, and they continue 
over the whole country from the latter place to Jedrova,and finally ? 
over the whole Russian empire. The author of the travels above 
alluded to, says, " There are few finer prospects than that of Wo- 
ronetz, viewed a few miles from the town on the road to Pautoosky. 
Throughout the whole of this country are seen, dispersed over im- 
mense plains, mounds of earth, covered with fine turf, the sepul- 
chres of the ancient world, common to almost every habitable 
country."* 

This country, (Russia in Europe) from Petersburgh to the Cri- 
mea, a seaport on the Black sea, the region over which Adam 
Clarke travelled, is in the neighborhood of Mount Ararat; and, 
from the circumstance of the likeness existing between the mounds 
and tumuli there, which Clarke says are the " tombs of the an- 
cient world,** and those of the same character, North and South 
America, we draw the conclusion that they belong nearly to one 
and the same era of time, viz: that immediately succeeding the 
confusion of language, at the building of Babel. We are told in 
the same volume of travels, that et the Cossacks at Ekaterindara, 
dug into some of these mounds for the purpose of making cellars, 
and found in them several ancient vases,*" earthen vessels, cor- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 221 

responding exactly with the vases found in the western mounds. 
Several have been found in our mounds which resemble one found 
in Scotland, described by Pennant A vessel apparently made of 
clay and shells, resembling in its form a small keg, with a spout 
on one side of it, formed like the spout of a tea-kettle, with a chain 
fastened to each end, made probably of copper, of which Mr. At- 
water has not informed us. This chain answered as a bail or 
handle: exactly on its top, or side, under the range of the chain 
handle, is an opening of an exact circle, which is the mouth of 
this ancient tea-kettle. — (See plate, letter A.) 

In the Russian tumuli, are found the bones of various animals, 
as well as those of men. In the western tumuli are found also, 
the bones of men, as well as the teeth of bears, otters, and 
beavers. 

Thus we learn, from the most authentic sources, that these an- 
cient works existing in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, are 
similar in their construction, in the materials with which they 
were raised, and in the articles found in them. Let those who are 
constantly seeking occasion to overthrow the history of man, by 
Moses, consider this fact. Such persons have affected to believe 
that there were different stocks, or races of men, derived from 
different original fathers ; and in this way, they account for the 
appearance of human beings found on islands. But this similarity 
of works, language, and of tradition, relating to the most ancient- 
history of man, indicates — nay, more, establishes the fact, that all 
men sprung from but one origin, one first man and woman, as Mo- 
ses has it in the book of Genesis. 

Some have supposed that all the great works of the west, of 
which we have been treating, belong to our present race of In- 
dians, but from continued wars with each other, have driven them- 
selves from agricultural pursuits, and thinned away their numbers 
to that degree, that the wild animals, and fishes of the rivers, and 
wild fruit of the forests, were found sufficient to give them sup- 
port; on which account, they were reduced to savagism. But 
this is answered by the Antiquarian Society, as follows: " Have 
our present race of Indians ever buried their dead in mounds by 
thousands? Were they acquainted with the use of silver or cop- 
per] These metals curiously wrought have been found. Did the 
ancients of our Indians burn the bodies of distinguished chiefs on 



222 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

funeral piles, and then raise a lofty tumulus, over the urn con- 
taining their ashes ? Did the Indians erect any thing like the 
" walled towns" on Paint creek % Did they ever dig such wells 
as are found at Marietta, Portsmouth, and above all, such as those 
in and near Paint creek ? Did they manufacture vesssels from 
calcareous breccia, equal to any now made in Italy? Did they 
ever make and worship an idol representing the three principal 
gods of India, called the triune cup?— (See plate, letter E.) To 
this we respond, they never have — no, not even their traditions 
afford a glimpse of the existence of such things as forts^ tu- 
muli, roads, wells, mounds, walls enclosing between one and two 
hundred, and even five hundred acres of land, — some of them of 
stone, and others of earth, twenty feet in thickness, and exceed- 
ingly high, and are works requiring too much labor for Indians to 
have performed. 

The skeletons found in our mounds never belonged to a people 
like our Indians. The latter are a tall, slender, straight-limbed 
people; but those found in the barrows and tumuM were rarely 
over five feet high, though a few were more. Their foreheads 
were low, cheek bones rather high, their faces were very short 
and wide, their eyes large, and their chins very broad. But Morse 
the geographer says, page 629, that the Tartars have small eyes, 
and not of the oblique form like the Monguls and Chinese, neither 
of which seem to correspond with the large eyed race who built 
the mounds and tumuli of the west; on which account we the more 
freely look to a higher and more ancient origin for these people. 
The Indians of North America, in features, complexion and form 
and warlike habits, suit far better the Tartaric character, than the 
skeletons found in the mounds of the west. The limbs of our fos- 
sils are short and thick, resembling the Germans more than any 
other Europeans with whom we are acquainted. Germany is 
situated east of England^ and parts of it lie along the coast of the 
Atlantic, or the North sea, in north latitude 53 degrees. From 
whence voyagers may /have passed out between the north end of 
Scotland and the south extremity of old Norway, by the Shetland 
and Faroe islands, directly in the course of Iceland, Greenland 
and the Labrador coast of America. This is as possible for the 
Germans to have performed, as for the Norwegians, Danes and 
Welch, in the year of our Lord 1000, as shown in another part of 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 223 

this work. White Indians, as found far to the west, must have had 
a white origin. 

An idol found in a tumulus near Nashville, Tenn., (see plate, 
letter B.) and now in the museum of Mr. Clifford, of Lexington, 
is made of clay, peculiar for its fineness. With this clay was 
mixed a small portion of gypsum, or plaster of Paris. This idol 
was made to represent a man, in a state of nudity or nakedness, 
whose arms had been cut off close to the body, and whose nose 
and chin have been mutilated, with a fillet and cake upon its head- 
In all these respects, a» well as in the peculiar manner of plating 
the hair, it is exactly such an idol as professor Pallas found, in 
his travels in the southern part of the Russian empire. A cus- 
tom among the ancient Greeks may have given rise to the forma- 
tion of such an idol, which was copied by the Asiatic ancestors 
of the people who brought it with them from Asia to the woods 
of America. This custom was — when a victim was destined to 
be sacrificed, the sacred fillet was bound upon the head of the 
idol, the victim and the priest. The salted cake was placed upon 
the head of the victim only: it was called " Mola." Hence im- 
molare, or immolation, in latter times was used to signify any kind 
of sacrifice. 

The ancestors of our northern Indians were mere hunters ; 
while the authors of our tumuli were shepherds and husbandmen* 
The temples, altars and sacred places of the Hindoos were always 
situated on the tanks of some stream of water. The same ob- 
servation applies to the temples, altars and sacred places of those 
who erected our tumuli. " To the consecrated streams of Hin- 
dostan devotees assembled from all parts of the empire, to wor- 
ship their gods, and purify themselves by bathing in the sacred 
waters. In this country, their sacred places were uniformly on 
the banks of some river ; and who knows but the Muskingum, 
the Sciota, the Miami, the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Missis- 
sippi, were once deemed as sacred, and their banks as thickly 
settled, and as well cultivated, as are now those of the Ganges, 
the Indus, and the Barempooter." — (American Ant. Researches.} 

"Some years since a clay vessel was discovered, about twenty 
feet below the surface, in alluvial earth, in digging a well near 
Nashville, Tennessee, and was found standing on a rock, from 
whence a spring of water issued. This vessel was taken to Peale's 



224 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

museum, at Philadelphia. It contains about one gallon; was cir- 
cular in its shape, with a flat bottom, from which it rises in a some- 
what globose form, terminating at the summit with the figure of a 
female head; the place where the water was introduced, or poured 
out, was on the one side of , it, nearly at the top of the globose 
part. The features of the face are Asiatic; the crown of the 
head is covered by a cap of pyramidal figure, with a flattened cir- 
cular summit, ending at the apex, with a round button. The ears 
are large, extending as low as the chin. The features resemble 
many of those engraved for Raffle's history ; and the cap resem- 
bles Asiatic head dresses." — (Am. Ant. Researches.) 

Another idol was, a kw years since, dug up in Natchez, on 
the Mississippi, on a piece of ground where, according to tradi- 
tion, long before Europeans visited this country, stood an Indian 
temple. This idol is of stone, and is, nineteen inches in height, 
nine inches in width, and seven inches thick at the extremities. 
On its breast, as represented on the plate of the idol, were five 
marks, which were evidently characters of some kind, resembling, 
as supposed, the Persian ; probably expressing, in the language 
of its authors, the name and supposed attributes of the senseless 
god of stone. (See the plate, letter G.) It has been supposed 
the present race of Indians found their way from Asia, by the 
way of Bhering's strait, and had passed from thence along down 
the chain of northern lakes, tillthey finally came to the Atlantic, 
south of Hudson's bay, in latitude about 50 degrees north; long 
before the people who made the great works of the west. That 
this was the fact, is argued by those who contend for its belief, 
from their having a greater knowledge of the arts diffused among 
them than the Indians. It is, say they, among a dense popula- 
tion, that these improvements are effected; it is here that necessi- 
ty, the mother of invention, prompts man to subject, such animals 
to his dominion, as he discovers most docile, and best calculated 
to assist him in his labors, and to supply him with food and rai- 
ment. This we believe, and for this very reason we hold the au- 
thors of our western works were thus enlightened, before they 
came here, on the plains of Shinar, amid the density of the popu- 
lation of the region immediately round about the tower of Babel. 
For it is evident, they never would have undertaken to build a 
work so immense as that tower, unless their numbers were consi- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 225 

tiered equal to it; and much less, unless this was the fact, could 
they have in reality effected it. While the thousands and tens of 
thousands, who were employed in that work, there must also, for 
their support, have been a large country, densely peopled, under 
contribution. In order to this, agriculture must have been resorted 
to; instruments of metal were indispensible, both in clearing the 
earth and in erecting the tower. All this was learned from Noah, 
who had brought, with himself and family, the knowledge of the 
antediluvians ; of whom it is said expressly, in the book of Gene- 
sis, that they both understood the use of iron and brass, as well as 
agriculture. Abel was a tiller of the ground; Tubal Cain was a 
worker in iron and brass. It cannot, therefore, be possible that 
Noah's immediate descendants, to the third or tenth generations, 
could have forgotten these things. And such as wandered least 
after the dispersion, after such as may have spoken the same lan- 
guage, had found a place to settle in, would most certainly retain 
this antediluvian information more than such as wandered, as the 
Tartars always have done. 

One of the arts known to the builders of Babel, was that of 
brick making; this art was also known to the people who built 
the works in the west. The knowledge of copper was known to 
the people of the plains Shinar, for Noah must have communica- 
ted it, as he lived one hundred and fifty years among them after 
the flood; also copper, was known to the antediluvians. Copper 
was also known to the authors of the western monuments. Iron 
was known to the antediluvians; it was also known to the ancients 
of the west. Copper ore is very abundant, in many places of the 
west ; and, therefore, as they had a knowledge of it when they 
first came here they knew how to work it, and form it into tools 
and ornaments. This is the reason why so many articles of this 
metal are found in their works ; and even if they had a knowledge 
of iron ore, and knew how to work it, all articles made of it must 
have become oxydized as appears from what few specimens have 
been found, while those of copper are more imperishable. Gold 
ornaments are said to have been found in several tumuli. Silver, 
very well plated on copper, has been found in several mounds, 
besides those at Circleville and Marietta. An ornament of copper 
was found in a stone mound near Chilicothe; it was a bracelet for 
the ancle or wrist. The ancients of Asia, immediately after the 

15 



226 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES, 

dispersion, were acquainted with ornaments made of the various 
metals; for in the family of Terah, who was the father of Abra- 
ham and Nahor, we find these ornaments in use for the beautify- 
ing of females. See the servant of Abraham, at the well of Be- 
thuel in the country of " Ur of the Chaldeans," or Mesopotamia, 
which is not very far from the place where Babel stood — putting, 
a jewel of gold upon face or forehead of Rebecca, weighing half 
a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists, or arms. Bracelets for 
the same use have been found in the west; all of which circum- 
stances go to establish the acquaintance of those who made those 
ornaments of silver and corper found in the mounds of the west, 
equal with those of Ur in Chaldea. The families of Peleg, Reu, 
Serug, and Nahor, who were the immediate progenitors of Abra- 
ham, lived at an era but little after the flood; and yet we find 
them in the possession of ornaments of this kind; from which we 
conclude a knowledge both of the metals, and how to make orna- 
ments, as above described, was brought by Noah and his family 
from beyond the flood. 

A knowledge, therefore, of these things must have gone with 
the different people who spread themselves over the whole earth r 
and were retained by those who wandered least, as we suppose 
was the fact in relation to the first settlers of this continent, in 
regions of the west. It is believed by some that the common In- 
dian nations came first to this country to the northwest, and fol- 
lowing the northern lakes, found their way to the Atlantic; while 
at a later period, they suppose, the more enlightened nations of 
China came the same way, and followed along down the shore of 
the Pacific, till they found a mild climate, along in latitudes 50, 
40, and 30 degrees. 

But this is not possible: First, Because the Indians were found 
by us as numerous on the shores of the Pacific as on the shores 
of the Atlantic, and in all the vast country between; dwelling 
where a people still more ancient than they, once lived, but had 
forsaken their fields, their houses, their temples, mounds, forts 
and tumuli, and either were nearly exterminated in wars with 
them, or wandered with to the south; the residue, the descendants 
of whom are found in several of the nations inhabiting South 
America, as we have shown heretofore. Second, It would seem 
impossible for the people, or nations, who built the vast works of 






AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 227 

the west, and are evidently of the shepherd or agricultural cast, 
to have crossed the strait, and fought their way through hostile, 
opposing and warlike nations, till they had established themselves 
in their very midst. It is, therefore, much more agreeable to 
reason, and also to the traditions, both of the Azteca nations 
in Mexico and the Wyandot tribes in the west, to believe that our 
Indians came on the continent at a much later period than those 
who are the authors of the works we have described, and that 
they had many wars with them, till, at length, they slowly moved 
to the south, abandoning forever their country, to wander, they 
knew not whither, as we have also shown. This conclusion is 
not mere fancy, for it is a matter of historic notice, that the 
" Tchautskis annually crossed Bhering's strait to make war on 
the inhabitants of the northwest coast of America." — (Humboldt, 
vol. 1, p. 919.) 

The reader will recollect our description of the walled towns of 
the west, surrounded with deep ditches, as found on Paint creek, 
Little Miami, Circleville, Marietta, Cincinnati, Portsmouth, and 
in Perry county, Ohio. There is a town, (See Morse's Geography, 
vol. 2, p. 631,) situated in the regions of Mount Ararat, in the an- 
cient country called Independent Tartary, by the name of Khiva, 
which stands on a rising ground, like the town in Perry county. 
It is surrounded with a high wall of earth, very thick, and much 
higher than the houses within. It has three gateways; there are 
turrets at small distances and a broad, deep ditch; the town is 
large, and occupies a considerable space, and commands a beau- 
tiful prospect of the distant plains, which the industry of the in- 
habitants has rendered very fertile; but the houses of this town 
are very low, and mostly built of clay, and the roofs flat, and 
covered with earth. This town which so exactly corresponds 
with the ruins of the west, is in that part of Asia east of Ararat, 
where the primitive inhabitants, immediately after the deluge, 
made the first settlements. And from this coincidence, we are 
led to a belief, drawn from this and abundant other evidence, that 
the antiquity of the one is equal with that of the other; that its 
construction is indeed of the primitive form; which strengthens 
our opinion, that the first inhabitants of America came here with 
the very ideas relative to the construction and security of towns 
and fortifications, that dictated the building of Khiva. It is al- 



228 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

lowed on all hands, that the people of Asia are wholly of the 
primitive stamp; yet their antiquities, are of the same character 
with those of America. 

" Proofs of primitive times, (says Mr. Atwater,) are seen in 
their manners and customs, in their modes of burial and worship, 
and in their wells, which resemble those of the patriarchal ages. 
Here the reader has only to recollect the one at Marietta, those 
at Portsmouth, on Paint creek, at Cincinnati, and compare them 
with those described in Genesis. Jacob rolled the stone from the 
well's mouth , (that is, from the fountain at the bottom,) Rachel 
descended with her pitcher, and brough up water for her future 
husband, and for the flocks of her father." 

Before men were acquainted with letters, they raised monu- 
ments of unwrought fragments of rocks, for the purpose of per- 
petuating the memory of events. Such we find raised in America. 
In the patriarchal ages men were in the habit of burying their 
dead on high mountains and hills, with mounds or tumuli raised 
over them; such we find in America. Mr. Atwater asks the 
question, u Did they not come here as early as the days of Lot 
and Abraham 1" the latter of whom lived something more than 
2000 B. C, which would be only about 340 years after the flood, 
and about 150 years after the confusion of language at Babel. If 
so, they were acquainted more or less with a knowledge of the 
true God, the creation of the world, with the circumstances of the 
building of the ark, the fact of the deluge, the number of persons 
saved in the ark, or, as they say, on a raft; and also with circum- 
stances which transpired after the flood, as mentioned in Scripture; 
all of which are plainly alluded to in Mexican tradition. But other 
nations than the progenitors of the Mexicans have also found this 
country, at other eras, one after another, as accident or design 
may have determined. 

On the shores of the Mississippi, some miles below lake Pepin, 
on a fine plain, exists an artificial elevation of about four feet 
high, extending a full mile, in somewhat of a circular form. It 
is sufficiently capacious to have covered 5000 men. Every angle 
of the breast work is yet traceable, though much defaced by time. 
Here, it is likely, conflicting realms as great as those of the an- 
cient Greeks and Persians, decided the fate of ambitious monarchs, 
of the Chinese Mongol descent. Weapons of brass have been 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 22$ 

found in many parts of America, as in Canadas, Florida, &c. 
with curiously sculptured stones, all of which go to prove that 
this country was once peopled with civilzed, industrious nations, 
now traversed the greater part by savage hunters. The ancient 
Greeks made their swords of brass. 



Discovery of America by the Norwegians and Welch, before, 
the Time of Columbus. 

This is contended by Lord Monboddo, a native of Scotland? 
and a philosophical and metaphysical writer of the 17th century* 
He wrote a dissertation on the origin and progress of language, in 
which he is sure he has found among the nations of America, the 
ancient Celtic or Gaelic dialect. He goes further, and supposes 
that all the nations of America, from the Labrador Esquimaux, 
to the natives of Florida, are derived of Celtic origin. 

Monboddo argues, in support of his opinion, from a number of 
curious circumstances. He says, that when in France, he was 
acquainted with a French Jesuit, a man of great and celebrated 
erudition, who related to him that a companion of his, who was 
engaged in the missionary service, with himself, among the 
northern Indians in America, having lost his way in the woods, 
travelled on, he knew not whether, till he found himself among 
the Esquimaux Indians. 

Here he stayed long enough to learn their language; after 
which he returned to Quebec in Canada; and happening one day 
to be walking along the docks of that city, observed among the 
crew of a ship that was moored there, a sailor who was a native 
of the country at the foot of the Pyrennean mountains, on the 
side of France. On hearing this man speak, who was a Basque, 
from his knowledge of the Esquimaux, obtained as above related, 
he understood what he said, so that they conversed together a 
while. Now, the language which the Basques speak, Lord Mon- 
boddo informs us, is absolutely a dialect of the ancient Celtic, 
and differs but little from the language of the ancient Highlanders 
of Scotland. This opinion is corroborated by a fact noticed in a 



*230 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Scotch publication, respecting an Esquimaux Indian, who accom- 
panied one of the English expeditions towards the north pole, 
with a view to reach it, if possible, or to find a passage from the 
North Atlantic through to the North Pacific, but did not succeed 
on account of the ice. On board of this vessel was a Scotch 
Highlander, a native of the island of Mull, one of the Hebrides; 
who, in a few days time, was enabled to converse fluently with 
the Esquimaux; which would seem to be a proof of the common 
origin, both of the Esquimaux language, and that of the Basque, 
which is the ancient Scotch or Celtic. Also the same author 
states, that the Celtic, language was spoken by many of the tribes 
of Florida, which is situated at the north end of the gulf of 
Mexico; and that he was well acquainted with a gentleman from 
the Highlands of Scotland, who was several years in Florida, in 
a public character, and who stated that many of the tribes with 
whom he had become acquainted, had the greatest affinity with 
the Celtic in their language; which appeared particularly, both in 
the form of speech and manner of reciprocating the common 
salutation of how do you do? But what is still more remarkable, 
in their war song he discovered, not only the sentiments, but 
several lines, the very same words as used in Ossian's celebrated 
majestic poem of the wars of his ancestors, who flourished about 
thirteen hundred years ago. The Indian names of several of 
the streams, brooks, mountains and rocks of Florida, are also the 
same which are given to similar objects., in the highlands of Scot- 
land. This celebrated metaphysician was a firm believer in the 
anciently reported account of America's having been visited by a 
colony from Wales, long previous to the discovery of Columbus; 
and says the fact is recorded by several Welch historians, which 
cannot be contested. It is reported by travellers in the west, that 
on the Red river, which has its origin north of Spanish Texas, 
but empties into the Missisippi, running through Louisiana; that 
on this river, very far to the southwest, a tribe of Indians has 
been found, whoso manners, in several respects, resemble the 
Welch, especially in their marriage and funeral ceremonies. 
They call themselves the McCedus tribe, which having the Mc or 
Mac attached to their name, points evidently to a European 
origin, of the Celtic description. It is further reported by travel- 
lers, that northwest from the head waters of the Red river, which 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 231 

would be in the region called the great American desert, Indians 
have come down to the white settlements, some thirty or forty 
years since, who spoke the Welch language quite intelligibly. 
These Indians, bearing such strong evidence of Welch extrac- 
tion, may possibly be descended from the lost colony from 
Wales, an account of which is given in Powl's History of Wales, 
in the 12th century; which relates, that Prince Madoc, weary of 
contending with a brother for their father's crown, left his coun- 
try, and sailed from Wales a due west course, which, if they 
came to land at all must have been Newfoundland, which lies 
opposite the mouth of the river St. Lawrence, exactly in latitude 
50 degrees north, and which is contiguous to this continent. But 
the account relates that he discovered an unknown country; that 
he returned to Wales, and gave such a favorable history of his 
discoveries and of the goodness of the land, that many were in- 
duced to embark with him on his second voyage, which he ac- 
complished. He returned again to Wales, but after a while 
sailed a third time to the newly discovered country, but has never 
since been heard of. 

The same account as above, is here again related, but with 
other circumstances attending. "In the year 1170," 663 years 
ago, which was as before stated, in the 12th century, " Madoc, 
son of Owen Groynwedk, Prince of Wales,, dissatisfied with the 
situation of affairs at home, left his country, as related by the 
Welch historian, in quest of some new place to settle. And 
leaving Ireland to the north, proceeded west, till he discovered a 
fertile country; where leaving a colony, he returned, and per- 
suading many of his countrymen to join him, put to sea with ten 
ships, and was never more heard of." We are not in the belief 
that all the tribes of the west, who have the name of Indian, are 
indeed such. There are many tribes which have been discovered 
in the western regions, as on the Red river, in the great Ameri- 
can desert, west of the head waters of that river, and in wilds 
west of the Rocky mountains; who are evidently not of the Tar- 
tar stock, whose completion, language, and heavy bearded faces 
show them to be of other descent. The Indians who were living 
on the river Taunton, in Massachusetts, when the whites first 
settled there, had a tradition that certain strangers once sailed up 
Asoonset, or Taunton river, in wooden houses, and conquered 



232 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

the red men. This tradition does not go to lessen the probability 
of the expedition of the Welch fleet, as above related, but 
greatly to strengthen it. This account of the Welch expedition, 
has several times drawn the attention of the world; but as no- 
vestige of them has been found, it was concluded, perhaps too 
rashly, to be a fable; or at least, that no remains of the colony 
exist. Of late years, however, western settlers have received 
frequent accounts of a nation inhabiting at a great distance up 
the Missouri, in manners and appearance resembling the other 
Indians, but speaking Welch, and retaining some ceremonies of 
the Christian worship; and, at length, says Imlay, in his work, 
entitled Imlay's America, this is universally believed. Near the 
falls of Ohio, six brass ornaments, such as soldiers usually wear 
in front of their belts, was dug up, attached to six skeletons. 
They were cast metal, and on one of them which was brought to 
Cincinnati, was ^represented a mermaid, playing upon a harp, 
which was the ancient coat of arms for the principality of Wales. 
The tradition of the oldest Indians, is that it was f at the falls of 
the Ohio, that the first white people were cut off by the natives. 
It is well authenticated that upwards of thirty years ago, Indians 
came to Kaskaskia, in the territory, now the state of Illinois, 
who spoke the Welch dialect, and were perfectly understood by 
two Welchmen then there, who conversed with them. From in- 
formation to be relied on, tomb stones, and other monuments of 
the existence of such a people, have been found, with the year 
engraved, corresponding very near to that given above, being in 
the 12th century. But long before this lost colony left Wales, 
Lord Monboddo says, America was visited by some Norwegians^ 
from Greenland, who, it was well known, were the discoverers of 
Greenland, in A. D. 964, and on that very account, it might be 
safely supposed they would push their discoveries still farther 
west. Accordingly, his lordship says, the Norwegians having, 
made a settlement in Greenland, in the end of the tenth century, 
some adventuerers from thence about that time, which would be 
more than eight hundred years ago, discovered, ©r rather visited, 
North America; for this writer supposes the continent to have 
been known to the people of the old world, as early as the time of 
the seige of Troy; which was about eleven hundred years before 
Christ; about the time of Solomon, or rather, one hundred years 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 23S 

before the time of that king. This is a point at which the publi- 
cation of this book aims, viz: to establish that this part of the 
earth was settled as soon after the flood as any other country as 
far from Ararat, and perhaps sooner. 

Lord Monboddo says, these Greenland Norwegian adventurers 
made a settlement about the mouth of the River St. Lawrence; 
where having found wild grapes, a German among them named 
the country Vinland, as is related in the history of ihis discovery. 
Mr. Irving, in his late life of Columbus, says, that as the Nor 
wegians had never seen the grape vine, did not know what it 
was, but their being a German with them, who was acquainted 
with the grape of his own native country, told them its name, 
from which they named it as above. This account is recorded 
in the annals of Iceland; which was peopled from Norway, 
which is in the north of Europe; and from Iceland the colony 
came that settled in Greenland, from thence to the mouth of the 
river St. Lawrence, about the year 1000 A. D. If such was the 
fact, there is nothing more natural, than that they may have 
pursued up the river, even to the lakes, and have settled around 
them, and on the islands in the St. Lawrence. There is an 
island in that river, called Chimney Island, so named, on account 
of the discovery of ancient cellars smd Jire places, evidently 
more ancient than the first acquaintance of the French with that 
country, which we suppose to have been made by these Norwe- 
gians. This Scottish author, in his admired work on the origin 
and progress of language, as well as in other works of his, re- 
lates a vast number of curious and interesting circumstances, 
which relate to our subject; one of the most remarkable, is an, 
account of an Indian mummy, discovered in Florida, wrapped up 
in a cloth manufactured from the bark of trees, and adorned with 
hieroglyphical characters, precisely the same, with characters 
engraved on a metal plate, found in an ancient burying ground, 
in one of the Hebride islands, north of Scotland. This country,. 
(Scotland) boasts of the most ancient line of kings that have 
reigned in Europe, having settled in Scotland, more than three 
hundred years before the Christian era, in the time of Alexander 
the Great. They are of Cimbrick Chersonese origin, who are 
derived probably, from some wandering tribe, descended from 
Japheth, the white son of Noah, whose independence, the Greeks* 



"234 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

nor Romans were never able, in their wide-spread conquests, to 
wrest from them; this was reserved for the English to accomplish, 
which was done in 1603. These islands, therefore, north and 
west of Scotland, became peopled by their descendants at an early 
day. Their hardiness of constitution, perseverance of charac- 
ter, and adventuring disposition, favors, in the strongest sense, 
the accounts as recorded in their national documents. And a 
reason why those documents have not come to light sooner, is, 
because they were penned some hundred years before the inven- 
tion of printing; and laid up in the cabinet of some Norwegian 
chief, at a time when but few could read at all, and the means of 
information did not exist, to be compared with the facilities of 
the present time: therefore, it has been reserved to this late era, 
to unravel, in any degree, the mysteries of antiquity. 

In the work entitled " Irving' s Life of Columbus, J/ * is an ac- 
count of the discovery of this continent, by those northern 
islanders, given in a more circumstantial and detailed manner. 
See his Appendix to vol. 3, p. 292, as follows: — " The most 
plausible or credible account respecting those discoveries is given 
by Snoro Sturleson, or Sturloins, in his Saga, or Chronicle of 
King Olaus. According to this writer, one Biorn, of Iceland, 
voyaging to Greenland in search of his father, from whom he 
had beeen separated by a storm, was driven by tempestuous 
weather far to the southwest, until he came in sight of a low 
country, covered with woods, with an island in its vicinity. The 
weather becoming favorable, he turned to the northeast, without 
landing, and arrived safe at Greenland. His account of the coun- 
try he had seen, it is said, excited the enterprise of Lief, son of 
Eric Rauda, (or red head,) the first settler of Greenland. A ves- 
sel was fitted out, and Leif and Biron departed together in quest 
of this unknown land. They found a rocky and sterile island, 
to which they gave the name of Helleland; also a low sandy 
country, covered with wood, to which they gave the name of 
Markland; and two days afterwards they observed a continuance 
of the coast, with an island to the north of it. This last they 
described as fertile, well wooded, producing agreeable fruits, and 
particularly grapes; a fruit with which they were not acquainted; 
but on being informed by one of their companions, a German, of 
its qualities and name, they called the country from it, Vinland, 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 235 

They ascended a river well stored with fish, particularly salmon, 
and came to a lake from which the river took its origin, where 
they passed the winter. It is very probable that this river was 
the St. Lawrence, as it abounded with salmon, and was the outlet 
of a lake, which it is likely, was Ontario. There is no other river 
capable of being navigated, very far from its mouth, with a sea 
vessel, and which comes from a lake, and empties into the sea, 
on that side of the coast, but the St. Lawrence. The climate ap- 
peared to them mild and pleasant, in comparison, being accus- 
tomed to the more rigorous seasons of the north. On the short- 
est day in the winter the sun was but eight hours above the hori- 
zon; hence it has been concluded, that the country was about the 
49th degree of north latitude, and was either Newfoundland, or 
some part of the coast of North 'America, about the gulf of St. 
Lawrence. It is said in those Chronicles of Sturloins, that the 
relatives of Lief made several voyages to Vinland; that they 
traded with the natives for peltry and furs; and that in 1121, 714 
years ago, a bishop named Eric, went from Greenland to Vin- 
land, to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. A knowledge of 
Christianity among the savage Britons, Caledonians and the 
Welch, was introduced, as is supposed, by St. Paul, or some of 
his disciples, as early as A. D. 63, more than 1700 years since. 
"From this time, about 1121, we know nothing of Vinland," 
says Forester, in his book of northern voyages, vol. 3, p. 36, as 
quoted by Irving. " There is every appearance that the tribe 
which still exists in the interior of Newfoundland, and who are 
so different from the other savages of North America, both in 
their appearance and mode of living, and as they always in a 
state of warfare with the Indians of the northern coast, are 
deemed descendants of the ancient Normans, Scandinavians or 
Danes." In the chronicles of these northern nations, there is 
also an account of the voyages of four boat crews in the year 
1354, which corroborates the foregoing relations. This little 
squadron of fishing boats being overtaken by a mighty tempest, 
were driven about the sea for many days, until a boat containing 
seven persons, was cast upon an island called Estotiland, about 
1000 miles from Friesland. They were taken by the inhabitants 
and carried to a fair and populous city, where the king sent for 
many interpreters to converse with them, but none that could un- 



236 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

derstand, until a man was found who likewise had been cast upon 
that coast some time before. They remained several days upon 
the island, which was rich and fruitful. The inhabitants were in- 
telligent and acquainted with the mechanical arts of Europe. 
They cultivated grain, made beer, and lived in houses built of 
stone. There were Latin books in the king's library, though the 
inhabitants had no knowledge of that language, and in manu- 
script, as the art of printing was not yet discovered. They had 
many towns and castles, and carried on a trade with Greenland 
for pitch, sulphur and peltry. Though much given to navigation, 
they were ignorant of the use of the compass, and finding the 
Frieslanders acquainted with it, held them in great esteem, and 
the king sent them, with twelve barks, to visit a country to the 
south called Drogeo. Drogeo is, most likely, a Norman name; 
as we find Drogo was a leader of the Normans against the an- 
cient baronies of Italy, about A. D. 787. Drogeo is supposed to 
have been the continent of America. This voyage of the fishing 
squadron, it appears, was in 1354, more than fifty years after 
the discovery of the magnetic needle, which was in 1300, A. D. 

They had nearly perished in this storm, but were cast away 
upon the coast of Drogeo. They found the people cannibals, and 
were upon the point of being killed and devoured, (these were our 
Indians,) but were spared on account of their great skill in fish- 
ing. Drogeo they found to be a country of vast extent, or rather 
a new world ; that the inhabitants were naked and barbarous, but 
that far to the southwest there was a more civilized region and 
temperate climate, where the inhabitants had a knowledge of gold 
and silver, lived in cities, erected splendid temples to idols, and 
sacrificed human victims to them. The same, it is likely, the 
ruins of which have been recently discovered and are now being 
explored, and account of which we shall give in another part of 
this work. 

After the fisherman, who relates this account, had resided 
many years on the continent of Drogeo, during which time he had 
passed from the service of one chieftain to another, and traversed 
various parts of it, certain boats of Estotiland, (now supposed to 
be Newfoundland,) arrived on the coast of Drogeo. The fisher- 
man got on board of them, and acted as interpreter, and followed 
the trade between the main land of Drogeo and the island of Es- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 237 

totiJand, for some time, until he became very rich. He then fit- 
ted out a barque of his own, and with the assistance of some of 
the people of the island, made his way back across the intervening 
distance between Drogeo and his native country, Friesland, in 
Germany. 

The account he gave of this country determined Zichmni, the 
prince of Friesland, to send an expedition thither ; and Antonio 
Zeno, a Venitian, was to command it. Just before starting, the 
fisherman, who was to have acted as pilot, died ; but certain ma- 
riners who accompanied him from Estotiland were taken in his 
place. The expedition sailed under command of Zichmni — the 
Venetian, Zeno, merely accompanied it. It was unsuccessful. 
After having discovered an island, called Icaria, where they met 
with a rough reception from the inhabitants, and were obliged to 
withdraw; the ships were driven by storm to Greenland. No 
record remains of any farther prosecution of the enterprise. The 
countries mentioned in the account written by this Zeno, were 
laid down on a map originally on wood. The island Estotiland 
has been supposed by M. Malte-Brun to be Newfoundland. Its 
partially civilized inhabitants, the descendants of the Scandinavian 
colonists of Vinland, and the Latin books in manuscript, found in 
the king's library, to have belonged to the remains of the library 
of the Greenland bishop who emigrated thither in 1121, 922 years 
ago. Drogeo, according to the same conjecture, was Nova Scotia 
and New England. The civilized people to the southwest, who 
sacrificed human beings in rich temples, he supposes to have 
been the Mexicans, or some ancient nations of Florida or Lou- 
isiana. 

A distinguished writer of Copenhagen, it is said, was not long 
since engaged in the composition of a work on the early voyages 
of discovery to this continent, as undertaken by the inhabitants of 
the north of Europe, more than eight hundred and thirty \ears 
ago. He has in his hands genuine ancient documents, the exam- 
ination of which leads to curious and surprising results. They 
furnish various and unquestionable evidence, not only that the 
coast of North America was discovered soon after the discovery 
of Greenland by northern explorers, a part of whom remained 
there, and that it was again visited in the 11th, 12th and 13th 
centuries, but also that Christianity was introduced among th« 



238 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Indians of America; The documents of this writer furnish even 
a map, cut in wood, of the northern coast of America, and also 
an account of the sea coast south, as far down as the Carolinas, 
and that a principal station of these adventurers was the mouth of 
the river St. Lawrence. He says that it was in the year 985 that 
America was first discovered by Baiske Her Juefser, but that he 
did not land; and that in the year 1000 the coast was visited by a 
man named Lief, a son of Eric the Red,who colonized Greenland. 
( Cabinet of Literature, vol. 3.) 

From the discoveries of Baron Humboldt in South America, it 
would appear that the continent of America has indeed been not 
only visited by the northern nations of Europe at a very early day, 
but also to have settled on it, and to have become the head of 
tribes, nations and kingdoms, as follows: 

In the kingdom of Guatemala, North America, the descendants 
of the original inhabitants preserve traditions which go back to the 
epoch of a great deluge, after which their ancestors, led by a chief 
called Votan, had come from a country lying toward the north. 
As late as in the 16th century, in a village in Guatemala, there 
were of the natives who boasted their descent from the family of 
Votan, or Vodan. They who have studied the history of Scandi- 
navian (old Norway) nations, says Humboldt, in the heroic times, 
must be struck at finding in Mexico a name which recalls that of 
Vodan or Odin, who reigned among the Scythians, and whose 
race, according to the very remarkable assertion of Bede, (an ec- 
clesiastical historian of the 17th century,) gave kings to a great 
number of nations. This wonderfully corroborates the opinion of 
America's having been settled in several parts by Europeans, at 
a very ancient period. 

The Shawanese tribe of Indians, who now live in Ohio, once 
lived on the Suaney river, in West Florida, near the shores of the 
southwest end of the gulf of Mexico. Among these Indians, says 
Mr. Atwater, there is a tradition that Florida had once been inha- 
bited by white people, who had the use of iron tools ; their oldest 
Indians say, when children, they had often heard it spoken of by 
the old people of the tribe, that anciently, stumps of trees, covered 
with earth, were frequently found, which had been cut down by 
edged tools. — (Am. Antq. Researches, p. 273.) 

Whoever they were, or from whatever country they may have 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 23& 

originated, the account, as given by Morse, the geographer, of 
the subterranean wall found in North Carolina, goes very far to 
show they had a knowledge of iron ore ; and consequently knew 
how to work it, or they could not have had iron tools, as the Sha- 
wanese Indians relate. 

Morse's account is as follows: "In Rowan county, North Ca- 
rolina, about ten miles southwest from Salisbury, two hundred 
from the sea, and seventy from the mountains which run across 
the western end of the State, is found a remarkable subterraneous 
wall. It stands^on uneven ground, near a small brook. The 
stones of the wall are all of one kind, and contain iron ore; they 
are of various sizes, but generally weighing about four pounds ; 
all are of a long figure, commonly seven inches in length, some- 
times twelve. The ends of the stones form the sides of the wall; 
some of these ends are square, others nearly of the form of a pa- 
rallelogram, triangle, rhombus or rhomboids; but most of them 
irregular. Some preserve their dimensions through the whole 
length; others terminate like a wedge. The alternate position of 
great and little ends aids in keeping the work square. The sur- 
face of some is plain, of some concave, of others convex. The 
concave stone is furnished with one convex, so as to suit each oth- 
er; where the stones are not firm, or shelly, they are curiously 
wedged in with others. The most irregular are thrown into the 
middle of the wall. Every stone is covered with cement, which, 
next to the stone, has the appearance of iron rust. Where it is 
thin, the rust has penetrated through. Sometimes the cement is 
an inch thick, and where wet, has the fine, soft, oily feeling of 
putty. The thickness of the wall is uniformly twenty-two inches; 
the length discovered is rising of eighteen rods, and the height 
twelve or fourteen feet Both sides of this are plastered with 
the substance in which the stones are laid. The top of the wall 
appears to run nearly parallel with the top of the ground, be- 
ing generally about a foot below the surface. In one place, it is 
several feet. There is a bend or curve of six feet or more, 
after which it proceeds in its former direction. The whole ap- 
pears to be formed in the most skilful manner. Six or eight 
miles from this wall, another has been since discovered, forty 
feet long, four and five feet high, seven inches thick only. The 



U40 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

stones of this wall are all of one length. — (Universal Geography, 
p. 515.) 

In the State of Tennessee, which is situated exactly on the 
western end of North Carolina, are also found the vestiges and re- 
mains of ancient dwellings, towns and fortifications, with mounds, 
barrows, utensils, and images, wherever the soil is of prime qual- 
ity, and convenient to water. 

The bodies of two of these people were discovered in the au- 
tumn of 1810, in Warren county, in the State of Tennessee; one 
of a man, the other of a child, to appearance about four years 
old. They were four feet below the surface, in a situation per- 
fectly dry, there being a mixture of copperas, alum, sulphur and 
nitre in the soil that covered them. Their skin was preserved, 
though its original complexion could not be ascertained; but the 
hair of their heads was of an auburn shade. The child was de- 
posited in a basket well wrought of smooth splits of reeds, (arundo 
gigantucu,) and several singular species of cloth, as well as deer 
skins, dressed and undressed, were wrapped round and depo- 
sited with them ; and two feather fans, and a curious belt. — 
(Morse.) 

From the discovery of these two bodies, we think we ascertain 
the inhabitants to have been white, like the Europeans, from the 
color of their hair; as it is well known the Australasians, Poly- 
nesians and Malays, as well as the common Indians, have univer- 
sally black, long and shining hair. The body which is mentioned 
by Prof. Mitchell, late of New-York, discovered in a nitrous 
cave in the western country, had red or sandy hair; such was the 
color of the hair of the Scandinavians, of the north of Europe, 
and are supposed, upon authority indubitable, to have settled at 
Onondaga, and round about that region. (See toward the close 
of this work. 

The wall discovered in North Carolina, as related above, is 
doubtless a part of a wall built for the defence of a town or city; 
the rest may have been thrown down by an enemy, or it may have 
been never finished. The regular manner in which it was built 
and laid in mortar, shows a considerable knowledge of masonry. 
This is by no means very extraordinary, as in Europe a conside- 
rable knowledge of the arts was in possession of the people of 
that country, derived from the Romans, who had subdued all the 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 241 

island of England, and abandoned the country, some hundred 
years before the time of the Welch expedition to the west of Eu- 
rope, as we shall relate by and by. What traits of iron instru- 
ments are found scattered over this country, except such as have 
been buried or lost in conflicts and battles with the Indians, since 
the discovery of the country by Columbus, are to be attributed to 
these Scandinavian and Welch settlers from the old country ; 
the latter about the ninth or tenth century, and the former long 
before. 

Jf the Welch, as we shall show, a few pages hence, found this 
country about the year 950, there was time enough for them to 
have established themselves in many parts, and to have built 
themselves towns, and cultivated the earth to a great extent ; as, 
from about 950 till its discovery by Columbus, in 1492, would 
be not far from 542 years. A longer time than has elapsed 
since its last discovery, and also time enough for their deserted 
works to become covered with forests of the age of four and five 
hundred years. 

According to Morse, the ancestors of the Welch were the 
Cimbri, or northern Celts. But he says the Goths from Asia hav- 
ing seized on Germany, and a great part of Gaul, or France, 
gradually repelled the Celts, and placed colonies on the island of 
Britain, three or four centuries before the Christian era ; that the 
Romans found many tribes of the Belgse, or ancient Germans, 
when they first invaded that island: consequently, not only the 
Welch, but the English also, had, in part, the Goths, or ancient 
Germans, for their ancestors, arid were the people who, as well as 
the Scandinavians, discovered America and settled here. It may 
be that from such causes as these, are found, far to the west, 
several tribes of white Indians, originated from Welch, Ger- 
man and Scandinavian ancestors, who well might be supposed to 
have' had, not only a knowledge of masonry, sufficient to build 
walls, but of iron also; the traits of which are found in many parts 
sufficiently marked by oxyzidation to throw the time of their for- 
mation beyond the last discovery of America. 

On the river Gasconade, which empties into the Missouri, on 
the southern side, are found the traces of ancient works, similar 
to those in North Carolina. In the saltpetre caves of that region, 
and Gasconade county in particular, were discovered, when they 

16 



242 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

were first visited, axes and hammers made of iron; which led to 
the belief that they had formerly worked those caves for the sake 
of the nitre. 

Dr. Beck, from whose Gazetteer of Missouri and Illinois, p. 
234, we have this account, remarks, however, that "it is difficult 
to decide whether these tools were left there by the present race 
of Indians, or a more civilized race of people." He says it is 
unusual for the savages of our day to take up their residence in 
caves, considering them places to which the devil resorts ; and 
that they are not acquainted with the uses of saltpetre, and would 
rather avoid them than collect it. This author considers the cir- 
cumstance of finding those tools in the nitre caves, as furnishing 
a degree of evidence that the country of Gasconade river was 
formerly settled by a race of men who were acquainted with the 
use of iron, and exceeded the Indians in civilization and a know- 
ledge of the arts. 

But there are other facts, he says, connected with these, about 
which there can be no mistake. Not far from this cave is found 
the ruins of an ancient town. It appears to have been regularly 
laid out, and the dimensions of the squares, streets, and some of 
the houses, can yet be discovered. 

Stone walls are found in different parts of the area, which are 
frequently covered with huge heaps of earth. Missouri joins Ten- 
nessee on the west, the same as the latter does North Carolina; 
and from a similarity of the works discovered, it would appear that 
a population, similar in manners and pursuits, inhabited avast re- 
gion of county, from the Atlantic side of North Carolina^ to the 
Missouri Territory. These discoveries rank with the architectu- 
ral works of Europe, in the 9th and 10th centuries; as that long 
before that period, the use of stone work had been introduced, 
even in the island of Britain, by the all-conquering bands of the 
Romans. 

If,lherefore, the Germans, Danes, Welch, Normans, Icelanders, 
Greenlanders or Scandinavians settled in this country who are all 
of much the same origin, there need be no great mystery respect- 
ing these discoveries, as they are to be referred to those nations 
from Europe, beyond all doubt. The ancient monuments of a 
country, says Dr. Morse, are intimately connected with the 
epochs of its history ; consequently, as the state of masonry, or 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 243 

the knowledge of stone work, discovered, as*above described, in 
North Carolina, Tennessee and Missouri, is of the same charac- 
ter with those of Europe, arbout the time of the 9th, 10th, 11th 
and 12th centuries, we conclude them to be wholly of European 
origin. 

About ten miles from the spot where the relics of this town are 
discovered, on the west side of the Gasconade river, is also found 
another stone work, still more extraordinary, as it is evident that 
its builders had indeed a competent knowledge of constructing 
buildings of that material. It is about thirty feet square, and al- 
though in a dilapidated condition, appears to have been erected 
with a great degree of regularity; it is situated on a high bold cliff, 
which commands a fine and extensive view of the country, on all 
sides. These antiquities evidently form a distinct class, says Dr. 
Beck, ot which as yet he had seen no description. Of the same 
class has been discovered on Noyer creek, in Missouri, the foun- 
dation of a large stone building, fifty-six feet in length and twenty- 
two in breadth, divided into four apartments. The largest room 
occupies about one half of the whole building, and is nearly 
square; a second in size is twelve feet by sixteen, partly oval; 
third, four by sixteen; fourth, three by sixteen feet. The outer 
wall is eighteen inches thick, consisting of rough, unhewn stone; 
the partitions between the rooms are of the same material, of equal 
thickness with the outer wall. As an entrance into the largest 
room, are two door ways; the second size one, and the same of 
the two others. — (See at the bottom of the Frontispiece.) About 
eighty rods from this structure is also found the remains of the 
foundation of a stone building, nineteen feet by fifteen in size, of 
the same character of architecture. One large oval room, twelve 
feet by twelve on an average, occupies the centre, with a door 
way, and at each end of the room, two others, three feet by 
twelve, without any door ways. It is probable the largest of these 
buildings was the palace of the chief, or king of the tribe, clan or 
nation; where were held the legislative councils, and the affairs 
of government were transacted. 

The second building, placed at the respectful distance, of eighty 
rods,was probably the prison house and place of execution, which 
the small narrow cells, without any outside door way,would seem 
to suggest. The prison in which St. Paul was confined at Rome 



244 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

is exactly of this form and size, which we consider a remarkable 
coincidence, unless it is allowed this American prison house, as we 
have supposed it was, had been fashioned after the same manner. 
We have an account of this prison, in which St. Paul was con- 
fined, which was built several hundred years before the Christian 
era, as given by a gentleman who recently made the tour of Eu- 
rope. It is as follows: 

"All parts of Italy are interesting to the scholar, and many 
parts to the Christian. Thus, near Naples, at Puteoli, I saw 
where Paul landed, and I travelled between Naples and Rome on 
the very same road over which he was led prisoner to Rome; and 
if he was incarcerated in this city, which I see no reason to doubt, 
he doubtless lived the greater part of the time he was here, in his 
own hired house. I have been in the same dungeon, and seen 
the very pillar to which he must have been chained. The prison 
is the Mamertine, the name and history of which is familiar to 
every one acquainted with Roman history, as it was for a long 
time the only prison of the Romans. It consists of but two apart- 
ments, circular, and about twelve feet in diameter, and six feet 
in height, the one over the other, both under ground. The only 
entrance to them originally, was through a small hole in the top 
of each, through which the prisoner must have been let down with 
yopes, passing through the upper to reach the lower prison; these 
dungeons were large enough for the Romans, as the trial soon 
followed the imprisonment of an offender, who, if found innocent, 
was at once liberated, but if guilty, immediately executed." — Jour- 
nal and Telegraphy vol iv,, No. 191 — 1832.) 

From the Romans, the German or Belgic tribes may have de- 
rived their first ideas of stone work, as from the Germans the 
Danes derived the same. The style and manner of this building, 
as it now appears, in its ruined state, agrees well with the build- 
ings of the ancient Danes of the north of Europe, in the tenth 
and eleventh centuries, which also consisted of unhewn stone, 
laid up in their natural state, the squarest and best formed selec- 
ted, of course. In these buildings, says Morse, were displayed 
the first elements of the Gothic style, in which the ancient Belgx 
or Germans used to erect their castles, in the old world, eight or 
nine hundred years ago. These works of these distinct kind of 
antiquities are numerons in the western countries; the regularity, 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 245 

form and structure of which, says Dr. Beck, favors the conclu- 
sion that they were the work of a more civilized race than those 
who erected the former, or more ancient works of America; and 
that they were acquainted with the rules of architecture, &c, (of 
Danish and Belgic origin) and perhaps with a perfect system of 
warfare. 

At present, the walls of this trait of ancient times are from two 
to five feet high, the rooms of which are entirely filled with forest 
trees; one of which is an oak, and was, ten years ago, nine feet 
in circumference. — (Beck's Gazetteer, p. 306.) But as to the 
fact of there having been colonies from Europe, who settled in 
this country many years since, there can be no higher evidence 
than has been recently afforded, from a discovery made in 1835, 
in the Territory of Arkansas. 

On the banks of White river, in that Territory, which runs into 
the Arkansas, have been found the remains of an enlightened 
population of the most extraordinary character, on account 
of their dimensions, and the materials of which they were erected. 
One of these works is a wall of earth, which encloses an area of 
six hundred and forty acres, equal to a mile square, and having 
in its centre the foundation of a large circular building, or temple. 
Another, yet more strange, and more extended, consists of the 
foundations of a great city, whose streets, crossing each other at 
right angles, are easily traced through the mighty forest. And 
beside them are found the foundations of houses, made of burnt 
bricks, like the brick of the present times. These have been traced 
to the extent of a mile. 

A knowledge of brick-making was possessed by the Greeks, 
and after them the Romans, who introduced the art into all the 
west of Europe, about the time of the Christian era; so that, 
wherever the wandering bands of Europe might spread them- 
selves, it is not to be doubted but with them went the art of brick- 
making, as found in their operations in the western parts of North 
America, as in the foundations of this brick city. 



246 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 



Ruins of the City of Otolum, discovered in North America. 

In a letter of C. S. Rafinesque, whom we have before quoted, 
to a correspondent in Europe, we find the following: — " Some 
years ago, the Society of Geography, in Paris, offered a large 
premium for a voyage to Guatemala, and for a new survey of the 
antiquities of Yucatan and Chiapa, chiefly those fifteen miles from 
Palanque." 

"I have, says this author, " restored to them the true name of 
Otolum, which is yet the name of the stream running through the 
ruins. They were surveyed by Captain Del Rio, in 1787., an 
account of which was published in English in 1822. This account 
describes partly the ruins of a stone city, of no less dimensions 
than seventy-five miles in circuit; length thirty-two, and breadth 
twelve miles, full of palaces, monuments, statues and inscriptions; 
one of the earliest seats of American civilization, about equal to 
Thebes of ancient Egypt. 7 ' 

It is stated in the Family Magazine, No. 34, p. 266,' for. 1833, 
as follows: "Public attention has been recently excited respecting 
the ruins of an ancient city found in Guatemala. It would seem 
that these ruins are now being explored, and much curious arid 
valuable matter in a literary and historical point of view is antici- 
pated. We deem the present a most auspicious moment, now that 
the public attention is turned to the subject, to spread its contents 
before our readers, as an introduction to future discoveries during 
the researches now in progress." 

The following are some particulars, as related by Captain Del 
Rio, who partially examined them as above related, 1787: Prom 
Palenque, the last town northward in the province of Ciudad Real 
de Chiapa, taking a southwesterly direction, and ascending a 
ridge of high land that divides the kingdom of Guatemala from 
Yucatan, at the distance of six miles, is the little river Micol> 
whose waters flow in a westerly direction, and unite with the great 
river Tulija, which bends its course towards the province of Ta- 
basco. Having passed Micol, the ascent begins; and at half a 
league, or a mile and a half, the traveller crosses a little stream 
called Otolum ; from this point heaps of stone ruins are disco- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 247 

vered, which render the roads very difficult for another half 
league, when you gain the height whereon the stone houses are 
situated, being still fourteen in number in one place, some more 
dilapidated than others, yet still having many of their apartments 
perfectly discernible. 

A rectangular area, three hundred yards in breadth by four 
hundred and fifty in length, which is a fraction over fifty-six rods 
wide, and eighty-four rods long, being, in the whole circuit, two 
hundred and eighty rods, which is three-fourths of a mile, and a 
trifle over. This area presents a plain at the base of the highest 
mountain forming the ridge. In the centre of this plain is situated 
the largest of the structures which has been as yet discovered 
among these ruins. It stands on a mound or pyramid twenty 
yards high, which is sixty feet, or nearly four rods in perpendic- 
ular altitude, which gives it a lofty and beautiful majesty, as if it 
were a temple suspended in the sky. This is surrounded by 
other edifices, namely, five to the northward, four to the south- 
ward, one to the southwest, and three to the eastward- — fourteen 
in all. In all directions, the fragments of other fallen buildings 
are seen extending along the mountain that stretches east and west 
either way from these buildings, as if they were the great temple 
of worship, or their government house, around which they built 
their city, and where dwelt their kings and officers of state. At 
this place was found a subterranean stone acqueduct, of great 
solidity and durability, which in its course passes beneath the 
largest building. 

» Let it be understood, this city of Otolum, the ruins of which 
are so immense, is in North, not South America, in the same 
latitude with the island Jamaica, which is about 18 degrees north 
of the equator, being on the highest ground between the northern 
end of the Caribbean sea and the Pacific ocean, where the con- 
tinent narrows toward the isthmus of Darien, and is about 800 
miles south of New-Orleans. 

The discovery of these ruins, and also of many others, equally 
wonderful in the same country, are just commencing to arouse 
the attention of the schools of Europe, who hitherto have denied 
that America could boast of her antiquities. But these immense 
ruins are now being explored under the direction of scientific 
persons, a history of which, in detail, will be forthcoming, doubt- 



248 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 



less, in due time; two volumes of which, in manuscript, we are 
informed, have already been written, and cannot but be received 
with enthusiasm by Americans. The characters here presented 
are the glyphs alluded to by this author formed from a combina- 
tion of the African and American letters, shown and treated of> 
on page 118 of this work — and on 122, 123 and 124. At the 
first glance, the most cursory observer is impressed with the idea 
of their likeness to the Chinese glyphs, which, in the languages 
in which they were in use, is equivalent to the combinations of our 
letters when grooped so as to spell words and shows that America, 
in its earliest history was not without its literati and means of 
improvement by the use of letters, but was lost by means of 
national revolutions in this country, as has been the fate of many 
nations of the old world, the evidence of which is shown in the 
ruins of this American city, on the stones of which the letters 
out of which the glyphs here shown were combined for use, as 
we combine our letters: — 




By those deeply versed in the antiquities of past ages, it is 
contended that the first people who settled America came directly 
from Chaldea, immediately after the confusion of language at 
Babel. — (See description of the ruins of the American city, pub- 
lished in London, 1832, p. 33, by Dr. Paul Felix Cabrera.) 
Whoever the authors of the city may have been, we seem to 
find in their sculptured deities, the idolatry of even the Phoeni- 
cians, a people whose history goes back nearly to the flood, or to 
within a hundred and fifty years of that period. 

It appears from some of the historical works of the Mexicans, 
written in pictures, which fell into the hands of the Spaniards, 
that there was found one which was written by Votan, and sets 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 249 

himself forth to be the third gentile, (reckoning from the flood or 
family of Noah,) and lord of the Tapanahuasec, or the sacred drum. 
In the book above alluded to, Votan says that he saw the great 
house which was built by his grandfather, meaning the tower of 
Babel, which went up from the earth to the sky. In one of those 
picture books, the account is given by the Indian historian, who- 
ever he was, or at whatever time he lived, that Votan had writ- 
ten it himself. He gives the account that he made no less than 
four voyages to this continent, conducting with him at one time 
seven families. He says that others of his family had gone away 
before himself, and that he was determined to travel till he should 
come to the root of heaven, the skie, (in the west,) in order to 
discover his relation the Culelras, or Snake people, and calls 
himself Culebra, (a snake,) and that he found them, and became 
their captain. He mentions the name of the town which his 
relation had built at first, which was Tezequil. 

Agreeing with this account, it is found by exploring the ruins 
of this city, and its sculptures, that among a multitude of strange 
representations are found two which represent this Votan, on 
both continents. The continents are shown by being painted in 
two parallel squares, and standing on each is this Votan, showing 
his acquaintance with each of them. The pictures engraven on 
the stones which form the sides of the houses or temples of this 
ruined city, are a series of hieroglyphics which show, beyond all 
doubt, that the era of its construction, and of the people who 
built it, excels in antiquity those of the ancient Greeks, the Ro- 
mans, and the most celebrated nations of the old world, and is 
worthy of being compared even with the first progenitors of the 
Hebrews themselves, after the flood. — (See History of American 
City, as before quoted, p. 39,) 

It is found that the gods of the ancient Egyptians, even Osiris, 
Apis and his, are sculptured on the stones of this city, the wor- 
ship of which passed from Egypt to many nations, and is found 
under many forms, but all traceble to the same original. We 
have examined the forms of the figuers cut on the side of the famous 
Obelisk of seventy-two feet in height, brought not long since from 
Egypt, by the French government, and erected in Paris; and 
have compared them with some of the sculptured forms of men,, 
found on the stones of this city, in which there is an exact cor- 



250 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

respondence, in one remarkable particular. On the obelisk — is 
represented a king or god seated on a throne, holding in one 
hand a rod grasped in its middle, having on its top the figure of 
a small bird. 

The arm holding this is extended toward a person who is rest- 
ing on one knee before him and offers from each of his hands, 
that which is either food, drink or incence to the one on the 
throne. The head ornaments are of the most fantastic construc- 
tion. The same without variation is cut in the stones of the 
ruined American city in many places; with this difference only, 
the American sculpture is much larger, as if representing gigan- 
tic beings, but is of the same character. Can we have a better 
proof than this, that Egyptian Colonies have reached America 
in the very first ages of the world after the flood, or some people 
having the notions, the religion and the arts of the Egyptians, 
and such were the most ancient people of Canaan, the Hivites, 
Perishes and Hitites which names denote ali these nations as 
serpent worshipers. 

As it respects the true founders of this city, the discovery and 
contents of which are now causing so great and general interest 
in both this country and Europe, it is ascertained in the most 
direct and satisfactory way, in the work to which we have just 
alluded,, published in London, 1832, on the subject of this city, 
that they were the ancient Hivites, one of the nations which in- 
habited Palestine, or Canaan, a remnant of which, it is ascer- 
tained^ fled into the kingdom of Tyre, and there settled, and into 
Africa^ to avoid annihilation by the wars of Joshua, the captain 
of the Jews; and that among them was one who acted as a 
leader, and was called Votan, and that he sailed from a port in 
ancient Tyre, which before it was known by that name, was 
called Chivim, and that this Votan was the third in the gentile 
descent from Noah, and that he made several voyages to and 
from America. But the kingdom which was founded by Votan, 
was finally destroyed by other nations, and their works^ their 
cities and towns turned into a wilderness, as they are now found 
to be. (The word Hivite, which distinguished one of the nations 
of old Canaan in the time of Joshua, signifies the same thing in 
the Phcenecian language, Serpent people or worshipers.) The 
Hivites, it appears, were the ancestors of the Moors, who spread 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 251 

themselves all along the western coast of Africa, at an early pe- 
riod, and in later times they overran the country of Spain, till the 
Romans supplanted them; who in their turn were supplanted by 
the northern nations of Germany, the Goths, &c. The Moors 
were not the proper Africans, as the hair of their heads was long, 
straight and shining. They were a different race, and of differ- 
ent manners and attainments. The contour of the faces of the 
authors of the American city, found sculptured on the stones of 
its ruins, are in exact correspondence with the forehead and nose 
of the ancient Moors, the latter of which was remarkable for its 
aquiline shape, and was a national trait, characteristic of the 
Moors as well as the Romans. 

When the Spaniards overran Peru, which lies on the western 
side of South America on the coast of the Pacific were found 
statues, obelisks, mausolea, edifices, fortresses, all of stone, 
equal, with the architecture of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, six 
hundred years before the christian era. Roads were cut through 
the Cordillera mountains; gold, silver, copper, and led mines, 
were opened and worked + o a great extent; all of which is evi- 
dence of their knowledge of architecture, mineralogy and agri- 
culture. In many places of that country, are found the ruins of 
noble aqueducts some of which, says Dr. Morse, the geographer^ 
would have been thought works of difficulty in civilized nations. 
Several pillars of stone are now standing, which were erected to 
point out the equinoxes and solstices. In their sepulchres were 
found paintings, vessels of gold and silver, implements of war- 
fare, husbandry, &c. To illustrate the architectural knowledge 
of the Peruvians as well as of some other provinces of South 
America, we quote the following from Baron Humboldt's Re- 
searches, ] st vol. Eng. Trans. Amer- edt, p. 255: — "There- 
mains of Peruvian architecture, are scattered along the ridge of 
the Cordilleras, from Cuzco to Cajambe, or from the 13th degree 
of north latitude to the equator, a distance of nearly a thou- 
sand miles. What an empire, and what works are these, which 
all bear the same character, in the cut of the stones, the shape of 
the doors to their stone buildings, the symmetrical disposal of the 
niches, and the total absence of exterior ornaments. This uni- 
formity of construction is so great that all the stations along the 
high road, called in that country palaces of the Incas, or kings 



252 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

of the Peruvians, appear to have been copied from each other; 
simplicity, symmetry, and solidity, were the three characters, by 
which the Peruvian edifices were distinguished. The citadel of 
Cannar, and the square buildings surrounding it, are not con- 
structed with the same quartz sandstone, which covers the primi- 
tive slate, and the prophyries of Assuay; and which appears at 
the surface, in the garden of the Inca, as we descend toward the 
valley of Gulan, but of trappean prophyry, of great hardness, 
enclosing nitrous feldspar, and hornblende. This prophyry was 
perhaps dug in the great quarries which are found at 4000 metres 
in height, (which is 13000 feet and a fraction, making two and a 
third miles in perpendicular height,^ near the lake of Culebrilla, 
or Serpent lake, ten miles from Cannar. To cut the stones for 
the buildings of Cannar, at so great a height, and to bring them 
down and transport them ten miles, is equal with any of the works 
of the ancients, who built the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, 
and Stabia, long before the Christian era. 

" We do not find, however," says Humboldt, " in the ruins of 
Cannar, those stones of enormous size, which we see in the Peru- 
vian edifices of Cuzco and the neighboring countries. Acosto he 
says, measured some at Traquanaco, which were twelve metres 
(38 feet) long, and five metres eight tenths, (18 feet) broad, and 
one metre nine tenths (6 feet) thick." The stones made use of 
in building the temple of Solomon, were but a trifle larger than 
these, some of which were twenty-five cubits, (43 feet 9 inches) 
long, twelve cubits (29 feet) wide, and eight cubits, (14 feet) 
thick, reckoning twenty-one inches to the cubit. 

" One of the temples of ancient Egypt is now, in its state of 
ruin, a mile and a half in circumference. It has twelve principal 
entrances. The body of the temple consists of a prodigious hall 
or portico; the roof is supported by 134 columns. Four beauti- 
ful obelisks mark the entrance to the shrine, a place of sacrifice, 
which contains three apartments, built entirely of granite. The 
temple of Luxor, probably surpasses in beauty and splendor all 
the other ruins of Egypt. In front are two of the finest obelisks 
in the world; they are of rose colored marble, one hundred feet 
high. But the objects which most attract attention, are the sculp- 
tures which cover the whole of the northern front. They con- 
tain, on a great scale, a representation of a victory gained by 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 253 

one of the ancient kings of Egypt over an enemy. The number 
of human figures, cut in the solid stone, amounts to 1,500; of 
these, 500 are on foot, and 1,000 in chariots. Such are the re- 
mains of a city, which perished long before the records of ancient 
history had a being."- — Malte-Brun. 

We are compelled to ascribe some of the vast operations of the 
ancient nations of this country, to those ages which correspond 
with the times and manners of the people of Egypt, which are 
also beyond the reach of authentic history. It should be recol- 
lected that the fleets of king Hiram navigated the seas in a sur- 
prising manner, seeing they had not, as is supposed, (but not 
proven,) a knowledge of the magnetic needle; and in some voy- 
age out of the Mediterranean, into the Atlantic, they may have 
been driven to South America; where having found a country, 
rich in all the resources of nature, more so than even their na- 
tive country, founded a kingdom, built cities, cultivated fields, 
marshalled armies, made roads, built aqueducts, became rich, 
magnificent and powerful, as the vastness and extent of the ruins 
of Peru, and other provinces of South America, plainly show. 

Humboldt says, that he saw at Pullal, three houses made of 
stone, which were built by the Incas, (king) each of which was 
more than fifty metres, or a hundred and fifty feet long, laid in a 
cement, or true mortar. This fact, he says, deserves attention, 
because travellers who had preceded him, had unanimously over- 
looked this circumstance, asserting, that the Peruvians were un- 
acquainted with the use of mortar, but is erroneous. The Peru- 
vians not only employed a mortar, in the great edifices of Pacari- 
tambo, but made use of a cement of asjphaltum; a mode of con- 
struction, which on the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris, may 
be traced back to the remotest antiquity. The tools made use of 
to cut their stone was copper, hardened with tin, the same made 
use of among the Greeks and Romans, and other nations, of 
which we have spoken, in another place of this work. 

To show the genius and enterprise of the natives of Mexico, 
before America was last discovered, we give the following as but 
a single instance : Montezuma, the last king but one of Mexico, 
A. D. 1446, forty-six years before the discovery of America by 
Columbus, erected a dyke to prevent the overflowing of the wa- 
ters of certain small lakes in the vicinity of their city, which had 



254 AMERICA^ ANTIQUITIES 

several times deluged it. This dyke consisted of a ba nk of stones 
and clay, supported on each side by a range of palisadoes; ex- 
tending in its whole length about seventy miles, and sixty-five 
feet broad, its whole length sufficiently high to intercept the over- 
flowings of the lakes, in times of high water, occasioned by the 
spring floods. In Holland, the Dutch have resorted to the same 
means to prevent incursions of the sea; and the longest of the 
many is but forty miles in extent, nearly one half short of the 
Mexican dyke. " Amidst the extensive plains of Upper Canada, 
in Florida, near the gulf of Mexico, and in the deserts bordered 
by the Orinoco, in Colombia, dykes of a considerable length, 
weapons of brass, and sculptured stones, are found, which are 
the indications that those countries were formerly inhabited by 
industrious nations, which are now traversed only by tribes of 
savage hunters." — Humboldt. 

Samuel R. Brown, author of the Western Gazetteer, 1817, 
says he examined one of those remains of the ancient nations, 
situated at the mouth of big Scioto river on a high bank of the 
Ohio, a half mile from the water. He has no doubt it was a 
military position of great strength, and describes it as follows: — 

"The walls are yet standing, and enclosing, as nearly as I could 
ascertain by pacing, fourteen acres of ground. It is of a square 
form, like the ancient Roman military works. The officious hand 
of civilized man has not yet marred the woods which shade these 
venerable ruins; nor has any curious antiquarian mutilated the 
walls, by digging in search of hidden treasure; the walls in many 
places are yet sixteen feet high, and no where less than eight. At 
their base they are about thirty feet, and wide enough at their top 
to admit a horse team and wagon. There are seven gateways, 
three on the west, two on the east, and two on the north, all being 
about twenty feet wide. On the northwest side are the ruins of 
a covered way, extending to a creek, at the distance of two hun- 
dred and eighty rods. The covering is fallen in, and large trees 
are growing in the ditch. On the west, side arefaw covered ways 
leading also to the same creek. These are apart from each other 
about thirty feet, and extending about forty rods, till they reach 
the stream. These walls are as wide and as high as the 
walls of the fort. On the east side are also two covered ways, 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WE8T 255 

at convenient distances from each other, leading to another small 
creek. 

Thus the garrison of this ancient fortification had five avenues 
through which they could safely procure water. " This could 
never have been the work of the common Indians. 

There is a river in South America, the largest river in the known 
world, which is the Amazon, the native or Indian name. There 
were in very remote times, a people who inhabited a part of an- 
cient Italy, called Amazons. May not the shores of this river 
have been settled by a colony of Amazons, or have given it a 
name so much resembling the name of that people ? 



Great Stone Calendar of the Mexicans, 

This stone was found near the site of the present city of Mexico^ 
buried some feet beneath the soil, on which is engraven a great 
number of hieroglyphics, signifying the divisions of time, the 
motions of the heavenly bodies, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, 
with reference to. the feasts and sacrifices of the Mexicans, and is 
called by Humboldt the Mexican Calendar, in relief, on basalt, a 
kind of stone. 

This deservedly celebrated historiographer and antiquarian has 
devoted a hundred pages, and more, of his octavo work, entitled 
Researches in America, in describing the similarity which exists 
between its representations of astrology, astronomy, and the di- 
visions of time, and those of a great multitude of the nations of 
Asia: Chinese, Japanese, Calmucks, Moghols, Mantchaus, and 
other Tartar nations; the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Phoe- 
nicians, Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, and ancient Celtic nations of 
Europe. See the American edition, by Helen Maria Williams, 
vol. 1. The size of this stone was very great, being a fraction 
over twelve feet square, three feet in thickness, weighing twenty- 
four tons. It is of the kind of stone denominated trappean por- 



256 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 



phyry, of the blackish grey color. We here present a fac simile 
of this stone. 




The place where it was found was more than thirty miles from 
any quarry of the kind; from which we discover the ability of the 
ancient inhabitants not only to- transport stones of great size, as 
well as the ancient Egyptians, in building their cities and temples 
of marble, but also to cut and engrave on stone, equal with the 
present age. 

It was discovered in the vale of Mexico, in A. P. 1791, in the 
spot where Cortcz ordered it to be buried, when, with his fero- 
cious Spaniards, that country was devastated. Thai Spaniard 
universally broke to pieces all images of stone which came in 
his way, except such as were too large and strong to be quickly 
and easily thus affected. Such he buried, among which this 
sculptured stone was one. This was done to hide them from the 
sight of the natives, whose strong attachment, whenever they saw 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 257 

them, counteracted their conversion to the Roman Catholic reli- 
gion. 

The sculptured work on this stone is in circles; the outer one 
of all is a trifle over twenty-seven feet in circumference — from 
which the reader can have a tolerable notion of its size and ap- 
pearance. The whole stone is intensely crowded with represen- 
tations and hieroglyphics, arranged, however, in order and har- 
mony, every way equal with any astronomical calendar of the 
present day. It is further described by Baron Humboldt, who 
saw and examined it on the spot. 

" The concentric circles, the numerous divisions and subdivi- 
sions engraven on this stone, are traced with mathematical pre- 
cision. The more minutely the detail of this sculpture is exam- 
ined, the greater the taste we find in the repitition of the same 
forms. In the centre of the stone is sculptured the celebrated 
sign nahuiolin-Tonatiuh, the Sun, which is surrounded by eight 
triangular radii. The god Tonatiuh, or the sun, is figured on this 
stone, opening his large mouth, armed with teeth, with the tongue 
protruded to a great length. This yawning mouth and protruded 
tongue, is like the image of Kala, or in another word, Time — a 
divinity of Hindostan. Its dreadful mouth, armed with teeth, is 
meant to show that the god Tonatiuh, or time, swallows the world, 
opening a fiery mouth, devouring the years, months and days, as 
fast as they come into being. The same image we find under the 
name of Moloch, among the Phoenicians, some of the ancient in- 
habitants on the eastern side of the Mediterranean, from which 
very country, there can be but little doubt, America received a 
portion of its earliest inhabitants. Hence a knowledge of the arts 
to great perfection, as found among the Mexicans, was thus de- 
rived. Humboldt says the Mexicans have evidently followed the 
Persians in the division of time, as represented on this stone. The 
Persians flourished 1000 years before Christ. 

" The structure of the Mexican acqueducts leads the imagina- 
nation at once to the shores of the Mediterranean." — (Thomas? 
Travels, p. 293. The size, grandeur and riches of the tumuli on 
the European and Asiatic sides of the Cimmerian strait, (which 
unites the Black sea with the Archipelago, a part of the Mediter- 
ranean, the region of ancient Greece, where the capital of Tur- 
key in Europe now stands, called Constantinople,) "excite 

IT 



258 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

astonishing ideas of the wealth and power of the people by~ 
whom they were constructed. And in view of labor so prodigious,, 
as well as expenditure so enormous, for the mere purpose of 
inhuming a single body, customs and superstitions which illus- 
trate the origin of the pyramids of Egypt, the cavern of Ele- 
phanta, and the first temples of the ancient world." — (TJwmas r 
Travels.) 

But, whatever power, wealth, genius, magnitude of tumuli^ 
mounds and pyramids are found about the Mediterranean,, where 
the Egyptian, the Phoenician, Persian and the Greek, have dis- 
played the monuments of this most ancient sort of antiquities, — 
all, all is realized in North and South America, and, doubtless, 
under the influence of the same superstition, and eras of time, — 
having crossed over, as before argued ; and among the various 
aboriginal nations of South and North America, but especially 
the former, are undoubtedly found the descendants of the fierce 
Medes and Persians, and other warlike nations of the old world. 

The discoveries of travellers in that country show, even at the 
present time, that the ancient customs in relation to securing their 
habitations with a wall, still prevail. Towns in the interior of 
Africa, on the river Niger, of great extent, are found to be sur- 
rounded by walls of earth, in the same manner as those of the 
west in North America. 

See the account as given by Richard Lander: " On the 4th of 
May we entered a town of prodigious extent, fortified with three 
walls, of little less than twenty miles in circuit, with ditches or 
moats between. This town, called Boo-hoo, is in the latitude of 
about 8 degrees 43 minutes north, and longitude 5 degrees and 10 
minutes east. On the 17th we came to Roossa, which is a cluster 
of huts walled with earth." 

This traveller states, that there is a kingdom, there called 
Yaorie, which is large, powerful, and flourishing ; a city which 
is of prodigious extent. The wall surrounding it is of clay, and 
very high, its circuit between twenty and thirty miles. He 
mentions several other places enclosed by earth walls in the same* 
manner. 

It is easy to perceive the resemblance between these walled 
towns in central Africa, and the remains of similar works in this, 
country, America. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 259 



A further Account of European Settlements. 

There are the remains of one of those efforts of Scandinavian 
defence, situated on a hill of singular form, on the great sand 
plain between the Susquehannah and Chemung rivers, near their 
junction. The hill is entirely isolated, about three-fourths of a 
mile in circumference, and more than one hundred feet high. It 
has been supposed to be artificial, and to belong to the ancient na- 
tions to which all works of this sort generally belong. 

In the surrounding plain are many deep holes, of twenty or 
thirty rods in circumference, and twenty feet deep — favoring a 
belief that from these the earth was scooped out, to form the hill 
with. It is four acres large on its top, and perfectly level, beau- 
tifully situated to overlook the country to a great distance, up and 
down both rivers; there is on its top the remains of a wall, formed 
of earth, stone and wood, which runs round the whole, exactly on 
the brow. The wood is decayed and turned to mould, yet it is 
traceable, and easily distinguished from the natural earth: within 
is a deep ditch or entrenchment, running round the whole summit 
From this it is evident that a war was once waged here; and were 
we to conjecture between whom, we should say between the In- 
dians and Scandinavians, and that this fortification, so advantage- 
ously chosen, is of the same class of defensive works with those 
about Onondaga, Auburn, and the lakes Ontario, Cayuga, Seneca, 
Oneida and Erie. As it is not pretended that the Scandinavians 
made settlements on the continent earlier than 950, there cannot 
be a doubt but they had to fight their way among the Indians, 
more or less, the same as we did, when first we colonized the 
coast of the Atlantic, along the seaboard of the New-England 
States. 

But as these Scandinavians, Norwegians, Scotch and "Welch 
were fewer in number than the Indians, and without the means of 
recruiting from the mother country, as was our case, they at 
length fell a prey to this enemy, or became amalgamated with 
them, and so were lost, the traces of whom appear now and then 
among the tribes, as we have shown. V. 



260 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

We are strongly inclined to believe the following articles, found 
in the town of Pompey, Onondaga county, New-York, are of 
Scandinavian origin. In Pompey, on lot No. 14, is the site of an 
ancient burying ground, upon which, when the country was first 
settled, was fcund timber growing apparently of the second growth, 
judging from the old timber reduced to mould, lying round, which 
was one hundred years old, ascertained by counting the concen- 
tric grains. In one of these graves was found a glass bottle about 
the size of a common junk bottle, having a stopple in its nuzzle, 
and in the bottle was a liquid of some sort, but was tasteless. 

But is it possible that the Scandinavians could have had glass 
in their possession at so early a period as the year 950 and there- 
about, so as to have brought it with them from Europe when their 
first settlements were made in this country? We see no good 
reason why not, as glass had been known three hundred years in 
Europe before the northern Europeans are reputed to have found 
this country, the art of making glass having been discovered in 
A. D. 664. But in other parts of the world, glass had been known 
from time immemorial, even from the flood, as it has been found 
in the tower of Babel. It is found in the cities of Pompeii and 
Herculaneum, which were buried by an eruption of Vesuvius ; 
and it is mentioned in Job 37, 18, who lived about sixteen hundred 
years B. C. Yet glass was invented, or the way to make it found 
out in England, by a Monk, in 664. In the same grave with the 
bottle was found an iron hatchet, edged with steel. The eye, or 
place for the helve, was round, and extended or projected out, like 
the ancient Swiss or German axe. 

On lot No. 9, in the same town, was another aboriginal burying 
ground, covered with forest trees, as the other. In the same town, 
on lot No. 17, were found the remains of a blacksmith's forge; at 
this spot have been ploughed up crucibles, such as mineralogists 
use in refining metals. 

These axes are similar, and correspond in character with those 
found in the nitrous caves on the Gasconade river, which empties 
into the Missouri, as mentioned in Prof. Beck's Gazetteer of that 
country. In the same town are the remains of two ancient forts 
or fortifications, with redoubts of a very extensive and formida- 
ble character. Within the range of these works have been found 
pieces of cast iron, broken from some vessel of considerable 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 261 

thickness. These articles cannot well be ascribed to the era 
of the French war, as time enough since then, till the region 
round about Onondaga was commenced to be cultivated, had 
not elapsed to give the growth of timber found on the spot, 
of the age above noticed ; and, added to this, it is said that the 
Indians occupying that tract of country had no tradition of their 
authors. 

The reader will recollect, a few pages back, that we have noticed 
the discovery of a place called Estotiland, supposed to be Nova 
Scotia, in 1354, the inhabitants of which were Europeans, who 
cultivated grain, lived in stone houses, and manufactured beer, as 
in Europe at that day. Now, from the year 1354, till the time 
of the first settlements made in Onondaga county, by the present 
inhabitants, is about 400 years. Is it not possible, therefore, that 
this glass bottle, with some kind of liquor in it, may have been 
derived from this Estotiland, having been originally brought from 
Europe; as glass had been in use there, more or less, from the 
year 664, till the Scandinavians colonized Iceland, Greenland, 
and Estotiland, or Newfoundland. The hatchets or iron axes 
found here, were likely of the same origin with the pieces of cast 
iron. In ploughing the earth, digging wells, canals, or excavat- 
ing for salt waters, about the lakes, new discoveries are frequently 
made, which as clearly show the operations of ancient civilization 
here, as the works of the present race would do, were they left 
to the operations of time for five ox six hundred years; especially 
were this country totally to be overrun by the whole consolidated 
savage tribes of the west, exterminating both the worker and his 
works, as appears to have been done in ages past. 

In Scipio, on Salmon creek, a Mr. Halsted has, from time to 
time, during ten years past, ploughed up, on a certain extent of 
land on his farm, seven or eight hundred pounds of brass, which 
appeared to have once been formed into various implements, both 
of husbandry and war; helmets and working utensils mingled to- 
gether. 

The finder of this brass, we are informed, as he discovered it 
carried it to Auburn, and sold it by the pound, where it was worked 
up, with as little curiosity attending as though it had been but an 
ordinary article of the country's produce: when, if it had been 
announced in some public manner, the finder would have doubt- 



262 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

less been highly rewarded by some scientific individual or society, 
and preserved it in the cabinets of the antiquarian, as a relic of 
by-gone ages of the highest interest. On this field, where it was 
found, the forest timber was growing as abundantly, and had at- 
tained to as great age and size, as elsewhere in the heavy timber- 
ed country of the lakes. 

From the above account, we cannot resist the conclusion that 
on this farm in Scipio, was situated an European village of 
Danes, or Welch, who were cut off and exterminated by the for- 
tunes of war, some hundred years before the discovery of Ameri- 
ca by Columbus, when it is likely their town was destroyed by 
the fire of the enemy, their articles of brass broken in pieces, 
and in the course of ages became buried by the earth, by the in- 
crease of vegetable mould, and the growth of the wilderness. If,, 
then, we have discovered the traits of a clan or village of Euro- 
peans, who had a knowledge of the use of brass and iron, as the 
Danes certainly had, long before they colonized Iceland, Green- 
land and Labrador, why not be allowed to conjecture, nay more, 
to believe, that many others in different parts overspread the 
lake country to a great extent. 

On the Black river, running from the northern part of the state 
of New-York, into lake Ontario, a man was digging a well, 
when at the depth of several feet he came to a quantity of China 
and JDelph ware. This is equally surprising with the field of 
"brass. A Mr. Thomas Lee discovered, not long since, on his 
feirm, in Tompkins county, in the State of New York, the entire 
iron works of a wagon, reduced to rust. From this discovery 
much might be conjectured respecting the state of cultivation, as 
a wagon denotes not only a -knowledge of the mechanic arts, 
equal, perhaps, in that respect, with the present times; but also 
that roads existed, or a wagon could not have traversed the coun- 
try. That the wagon was brought there by the Spaniards, who 
it is said, very soon after the discovery of America, explored these 
northern regions, in quest of minerals, is not likely because roads at 
that time did not exist; and for the same reason none of the first 
settlers of the New-England coast had penetrated so far in the 
wilds with a wagon as to give time for it to rust entirely away be- 
fore the first settlement of the western country. 

If one wagon existed, there were doubtless many ; which 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 263 

'plainly shows a civilized state of things, with all the conveniences 
of an agricultural life, which would also require towns and places 
of resort — as market places for produce — or a wagon could not 
.have been of any use to the owner. Anvils of iron have been 
found in Pompey, in the same quarter of the country with the 
other discoveries, as above related; which we should naturally 
expect to find, or it might be inquired how could axes, and the 
iron works of wagons, be manufactured? On the flats of the 
-Genesee river, on the land of Mr. Liberty Judd, was found a bit 
of silver, about the length of a man's finger, hammered to a point 
at one end, while the other was square and smooth, on which 
were cut, or engraved figures, the year of our Lord 600. The 
discovery of the remains of a wagon, as above stated, goes also 
to prove that some kind of animal must have been domesticated 
.to draw it with. The horse, it is said, was not known in Ameri- 
ca till the Spaniards introduced it from Europe, after the time of 
<its discovery by Columbus, which has multiplied prodigously on 
-the innumerable wilds and prairies of both South and North 
America; yet the track of a horse is found on a mountain of 
Tennessee, in the rock of the enchanted mountain, as before 
related, and shows that horses were known in America in the 
-.earliest ages after the flood: other evidence that horses have ex- 
isted here before those of the Spaniards can be shown. It is 
likely, however, that the Danes, who are believed once to have 
occupied the whole lake country, had domesticated the buffalo 
-and moose, as other nations have done, by which they were 
.aided in agricultural pursuits, as we are now by the ox. 



A Further Account of Western Antiquities. 

But as to the state of the arts among the more ancient nations 
-of America, some idea may be gathered from what has been al- 
ready said. That they manufactured brick of a good quality, is 
known from the discoveries made on opening their tumuli, and 
from the newly discovered foundations of a brick city in Arkan- 
sas, as before shown. A vast many instances of articles made 
<o.f copper and sometimes plated with silver, have been met with 



264 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

on opening their works. Circular pieces of copper, intended 5 
either as medals or breast plates, have been found, several inches 
in diameter, very much injured by time. In several tumuli, the 
remains of knives, and even ©f swords, in the form of rust, have 
been discovered. 

" Mirrors made of isinglass, have been found in as many as 
fifty places, within my own knowledge, says Mr. Atwater, besides 
the large and very elegant one at Circleville. From the great 
thickness of those mica membranacea mirrors, they answered the 
purpose for which they were made very well. Along the Ohio, 
where the river is, in many places, wearing and washing away 
its banks, hearths and fire places are brought to light, two, four r 
and even six feet below the surface, these are also found on the 
banks of Muskingum, at its mouth, and at Point Harman, oppo- 
site Marietta. Two stone covers of stone vessels, were found in 
a stone mound, in Ross county, in Ohio, ingeniously wrought and 
highly polished. These covers resembled almost exactly, and 
were quite equal to vessels of that material manufactured in Italy 
at the present time. 

An urn was found in a mound, a few miles from Chilicothe, 
which, a few years since, was in the hands of a Mr. J. W. Collet, 
who lived in that place, about a foot high, and well proportioned; 
it very much resembles one found in a similar work in Scotland, 
mentioned in Pennant's Tour, vol. 1, p. 154. It contained arrow 
heads, ashes and calcined or burnt human bones. In digging a 
trench on the Sandusky river, in alluvial earth, at a depth of six 
feet, was found a pipe, which displays great taste in its execution. 
The rim of the bowl is in high relief, and the front represents a 
beautiful female face. The stone of which is made is the real 
talc graphique, exactly resembling the stone of which the Chinese 
make their idols. No talc of this species is known to exist on 
the west side of the Alleghanies; it must therefore have been 
brought, at some remote period, from some other part of the 
world* Fragments of fishing nets and moccasins, or shoes made 
of a species of weed, have been found in the nitrous caves of 
Kentucky. The mummies which have been found in these 
places, were wrapped in a coarse species of linen cloth, of about 
the consistency and texture of cotton bagging. It was evidently 
woven by the same kind of process which is practised in the in- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 265 

terior of Africa. The warp being extended by some slight kind 
of machinery, the woof was passed across it, then twisted, every 
two threads of warp together, before the second passage of the 
filling. This seems to have been the first rude method of weav- 
ing in Asia, Africa and America. A second envelope of these 
mummies, is a kind of net work, of coarse threads, formed 
of very small loose meshes, in which were fixed the feathers 
of various kinds of birds, so as to make a perfectly smooth 
surface, lying all in one direction. The art of this manu- 
facure was well understood in Mexico, and still exists in the 
northwest coast of America, and in the Pacific islands. The 
third and outer envelope of these mummies, is either like the 
one first described, or consists of leather, sewed together. — Am. 
Antq Soc. 

The manufacture of leather from the hides of animals is a very 
ancient invention, known to almost all the nations of the earth; 
but to fiind it in America, wrapped around mummies, as in seve- 
ral instances found in nitrous caves, and the Kentucky caverns, 
shows a knowledge of a branch of the arts, in the possession of 
the people of America, at an era coeval with the Egyptians — as 
the art of embalming is found in connection with that of tanning 
the skins of animals. 

Among the vast variety of discoveries made in the mounds, 
tumuli and fortifications of these people have been found, 
not only hatchets made of stone; but axes as large, and much of 
the same shape with those made of iron at the present day; also 
pickaxes and pestles, (see plate Nos. 11 and 12,) with various 
other instruments, made of stone. But besides, there have been 
found very well manufactured swords and knives of iron, and 
possibly steel, says Mr. Atwater: from which we are to conclude, 
that the primitive people of America, either discovered the use of 
iron themselves, as the Greeks did, or that they learned its use 
from this circumstance; or that they carried a knowledge of this 
ore with them at the time of their dispersion; as received from 
Noah's family, who brought it from beyond the flood, discovered 
in or before the days of Tubal Cain, which was only about five 
hundred years after the creation. Dr. Clarke says, that from the 
manufacture of certain articles in the wilderness by the Israelites^, 
iron, and even steel must have been known, which was an age pre- 



"266 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ceding its knowledge by the Greeks, nearly a hundred years. If 
this was so, it follows that they must have learned it, or rather 
they must have taken these very instruments of iron and steel 
when they left Egypt; as they had no means of making such in- 
struments from the ore, in the wilderness. 



Great Stone Castle in Iceland. 



In Iceland, which is not far from Greenland, and Greenland is 
not far from the coast of America, has been found the remains of 
ancient architecture, of no less dimensions than 200 rods in cir- 
cumference, built of stone, the wall of which, in some places, as 
related by Van Troil, was 50 feet high. This was a Norwegian 
castle, of wonderful strength and magnitude, and of the same 
character with ruins found in this country, and in South America. 
Iceland is but 120 miles east of Greenland, and Greenland is 
supposed to be connected with America far to the north. This 
island is considerably larger than the state of New-York, being 
400 miles in length, and 270 in breadth. It was discovered by a 
Norwegian pirate, named Nrrdoddr, in the year 861, as he was 
driven out to sea by an eastern storm, on his way from Norway, 
which is the northern part of Europe, to the Feroe islands. 

Soon after this, in the year 870, it was colonized from Norway 
under the direction of a man named Ingalf, and sixty years after, 
which would bring it to 930, the whole island was inhabited; but 
they were without any regular government, being distracted with 
the wars of several chiefs for a long series of years, during which 
Iceland was a scene of rapine and butchery. It is natural to sup- 
pose, during such conflicts, many families, from time to time, 
would leave the island, in quest of some other dwelling. This 
was in their power to do, as they had a knowledge of navigation 
in a good degree, derived from the Romans, at the time they ruled 
the most of Europe, 900 years before. 

That Greenland, or countries lying west of Iceland, existed, 
could not but be known to the Icelanders from the flights of birds 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 267 

of passage, and from drift wood, which, to this day, is driven in 
large quantities from America, by the gulf stream, and deposited 
on the western coast of that island. — (Morse.) 

In this way, it is highly probable, the first Europeans found 
their way here, and became the authors of those vast ruins 
built of stone, found in various parts of America. The language 
of the Icelanders is, even now, after so long a lapse of ages, 
much the same with that spoken in Sweden, Denmark, and 
Norway — so that they understand the most ancient traditional 
history of their ancestors. The characters they made use of were 
Runic, and were but sixteen in number. But, about the year 
1000, the Latin or Roman letters superseded the use of the ancient 
Runic. 

Dr. Morse says the arts and sciences were extensively cultiva- 
ted in Norway, at the time when Iceland was first settled by 
them ; and while the traces of literature were diminished, and at 
length destroyed in Norway, by the troubles which shook the 
the whole north of Europe for several ages; they were, on the 
contrary, carefully preserved in Iceland. 

From this we may safely infer that America, having received 
its first European colonies from Iceland,who had not only a know- 
ledge of architecture, in a degree, but of navigation also,with that 
of science; that in the very regions where villas, cities, cultivated 
fields, roads, canals, rail-ways, with all the glory of the present 
age, exist along the Atlantic coast, also flourished the works of a 
former population — the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians, civilized 
nations, centuries before Columbus was born, but who have passed 
away by the means of wars with the more ancient nations of Ame- 
rica, or with the common enemy of both, the Tartar hordes from 
Asia, now called the American Indians, leaving forever the labor 
-of ages, which here and there are discovered, the relics of their 
architectural knowledge. 

One hundred and twenty-one years after the discovery of Ice- 
land, Greenland was discovered also, by the Norwegians, who 
planted a colony there ; and in a little time after, the country 
was provided with two Christian churches and bishops ; between 
which and Norway, the mother country, a considerable amount 
of commerce was carried on, till 1406 — a lapse of years amount- 
ing to about 483, before the discovery of America by Columbus ; 



268 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

when all intercourse between the two countries ceased, occa- 
sioned probably by the convulsions and wars of Europe at that 
period. 

The whole of that population, it is supposed, was lost, as no 
traces of them are found. The climate of that region, as is 
evident, has since undergone a great change, from an accumu- 
lation of ice and snow, from the Northern sea, so as to render 
the coast, where those settlements were, wholly inaccessible. — 
(Morse. ) 

Is it not possible that as they found the severity of the weather 
increasing rapidly upon them, they may have removed to the coast 
of Labrador, and from thence down the coast till they came to the 
region of the Canadas, where are discovered the traces of ancient 
nations, in vast lines of fortifications, as attested to by the most 
approved authority, Humboldt and others 1 



Ji Description of Instruments found in the Tumuli. 

In removing the earth which composed an ancient mound, situ- 
ated where now one of the streets of Marietta runs, several curi- 
ous articles were discovered in 1819. They appear to have been 
buried with the body of the person to whose memory this mound 
was erected. 

Lying immediately on the forehead of this skeleton, were found 
three large circular ornaments, which had adorned a sword belt, 
or buckler, and were composed of copper, overlaid with a plate of 
silver. The fronts, or show sides, were slightly convex, with a 
deep depression, like a cup in the centre, and measured two inches 
and a quarter across the face of each. On the back side, oppo- 
site the depressed portion, is a copper rivet, around which are two 
separate plates, by which they were fastened to the leather belt. 
The two pieces of leather resembled the skin of a mummy, and 
seemed to have been preserved by the salts of the copper. The 
plates were nearly reduced to an oxyde or rust; the silver looked 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 269 

quite black, but was not much corroded, as on rubbing it became 
bright and clear. 

Around one of the rivets was a small quantity of what ap- 
peared to be flax or hemp, in a tolerable state of preservation. 
Near the side of the body was found a plate of silver, which ap- 
peared to have been the upper part of a sword scabbard. It was 
six inches long, and two broad, with two longitudinal ridges, 
which probably corresponded with the edges or ridges of the 
sword once sheathed by it, and appeared to have been fastened to 
the scabbard by several rivets, the holes of which remain in the 
plate. 

Two or three pieces of a copper tube were also found with this 
body, filled with iron rust. The pieces, from their appearances, 
composed the lower end of the scabbard, near the point of the 
sword, but no sign of the sword itself, except a streak of rust its 
whole length. 

We learn from this that the person who was buried there was a 
warrior, as the sword declares; and also that the people of whom 
he was an individual, were acquainted with the arts of civilized 
life, which appears from the sheath, the flax, the copper and the 
silver, but more especially as the silver was plated on the copper. 
Near the feet was found a piece of copper weighing three ounces, 
which from its shape appeared to have been used as a plumb, as 
near one of the ends is a crease or groove, for tying a thread; it 
is round, and two inches and a half in length, one inch in diame- 
ter at the centre, and an half inch at the small or upper end. It 
was composed of small pieces of native copper, pounded together, 
and, in the cracks between the pieces, were stuck several bits of 
silver, one nearly the size of a sixpence. This copper plumb 
was covered with a coat of green rust, and was considerably cor- 
roded. A piece of red ochre, or paint, and a piece of iron ore 1 , 
which had the appearance of having been partly vitrified, or 
melted, was also found in this tumulus: the bit of ore was nearly 
pure iron. 

The body of the person here buried, was laid on the surface of 
the earth, with his face upwards, and his feet pointing to the 
northeast, and his head to the southwest. 

From the appearance of several pieces of charcoal and bits of 
partially burnt wood, and the black color of the earth, it would 



270 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

appear that the funeral obsequies had been celebrated by fire, and 
that while the ashes were yet hot and smoking, a circle of flat 
stones had been laid around and over the body, from which the 
tumulus had been carried up. 

For a view of each article, the reader can refer to the Frontis- 
piece engraving, by observing the numbering of each specimen. 
Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, are articles found in the mound at Mari- 
etta, in 1819. 

No. 1. Back view of the silver ornament for a sword scab- 
bard. 

No. 2. Front view of the same. 

No. 3. Front view of an ornament for a belt, with a silver 
face. 

No. 4. Back view of the same ornament, of copper. 

No. 5. A plumb or pendant, formed of pieces of copper pounded 
together, leaving fissures or openings, which were filled with bits 
of silver; an implement, as to its shape, resembling the instruments 
used by carpenters and masons, now-a-days, to ascertain perpen- 
diculars with, and was doubtless used by these ancients for the 
same purpose. 

No. 6. A stone, with seven holes, like a screw plate, fourteen 
inches long, finely polished, and very hard. This, however, was 
not found in the mound, but in a field near this tumulus. 

Letter A represents a small keg in its construction, and a tea- 
kettle, in the use of which it seems to have been put, which is in- 
dicated by its spout, and appears to have been made of a compo- 
sition of clay and shells. 

Letter B represents the idol before spoken of, on pages 217 and 
218, in three views, a front, side and back view. 

Letter C represents the idol, or image of stone, on page 219. 

Letter D is the stone, or Shalgramu, described on pages 180, 
181 and 182 

Letter E represents the triune cvp, found on the Cany fork of 
Cumberland liver, in an ancient work, about four feet below the 
surface. The drawing is an exact likeness, taken originally by 
Miss Sarah Clifford, of Lexington, Kentucky; it is by some called 
the triune idol. 

The object itself may be thus described : it consists of three 
heads, joined together at the back part, near the top, by a stem or 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 271 

handle, which rises above the head about three inches : this stem- 
is hollow, six inches in circumference at the top, increasing in? 
size as it descends. The heads are all of the same dimensions,, 
being about four inches from the top to the chin. The face, at 
the eyes, is three inches broad, decreasing in breadth all the way 
to the chin. All the strong marks of the Tartar countenance are 
distinctly preserved and expressed with so much skill, that even a 
modern artist might be proud of the performance. The counte- 
nances are all different from each other, and denote one old per- 
son and two younger ones. 

The face of the oldest is painted around the eyes with yellow, 
shaded with a streak of the same color,, beginning from the top of 
the ear, running in a semicircular form to the ear on the other side 
of the head. Another painted line begins at the lower part of the 
eye, and runs down before each ear, about one inch. — (See the 
right hand figure on the cup, or image on frontispiece.} The face 
engraved alone, is the back view, and represents a person of a 
grave countenance, but much younger than the preceding one r 
painted very differently, and of a different color. A streak of red- 
ish brown surrounds each eye. Another line of the same color, 
beginning at the top of one ear, passes under the chin, and ends at 
the top of the other ear. The ears also are slightly tinged with the- 
same color. 

The third figure resembles the others, representing one of the- 
Tartar family The whole of the face is slightly tinged with Ver- 
million, or some paint resembling it. Each cheek has a spot on 
it of the size of a quarter of a dollar, brightly tinged with the same 
paint: on the chin is a similar spot. One circumstance worthy 
of remark is, that though these colors may have been expo- 
sed to the damp earth many centuries, they have notwithstanding* 
preserved every shade in all its brilliancy. 

This triune vessel stands on three legs, which are about an 
inch and a half in length. The whole is composed of a fine clay 
of a light umber color, which has been rendered hard, by the ac- 
tion of fire. The heads are hollow, and the vessel is of capacity 
to hold about one quart. 

Does not this cup represent the three gods of India — Brahma, 
Vishnoo and Siva? Let the reader look at the plate representing 
this vessel, and consult the Asiatic Researches, by Sir William 



272 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Jones ; let him also read Buchanan's Star in the East, and ac- 
counts there found of the idolatry of the Hindoos, and he cannot 
fail to see in this idol one proof at least that the people who raised 
our ancient works were idolaters, and that some of them worship- 
ped gods resembling the three principal deities of India. What 
tends to strengthen this inference is, that nine murex shells, the 
same as described by SirWilliam Jones in his Asiatic Researches, 
and by Symmes, in his Embassy to Ava, have been found within 
twenty miles of Lexington, Kentucky, in an ancient work." — 
(Atwater.) 

The murex shell is a sea shell fish out of which the ancients pro- 
cured the famous Tyrian purple dye, which was the color of the 
royal robes of kings, so celebrated in ancient times. Their com- 
ponent parts remain unchanged, and they were in every way in 
an excellent state of preservation. These shells, so rare in India, 
are highly esteemed, and consecrated to their god, Mahadeva, 
whose character is the same with the Neptune of Greece and 
Rome. This shell, among the Hindoos, is the musical instrument 
of their Tritons, (sea gods, or trumpeters of Neptune.) Those, 
of the kind discovered as above, are deposited in the museum, at 
Lexington. The foot of the Siamese god Gudma, or Boodh, is 
represented by a sculptured statue, in Ava, of six feet in length, 
and the toes of this god are carved, each to represent a shell of the 
murex. 

These shells have been found in many mounds which have been 
opened in every part of this country; and this is a proof that a 
considerable value was set upon them by their owners; from these 
discoveries it is evident that the people who built the ancient works 
of the west were idolaters : it is also inferred from the age of the 
world in which they lived. History, sacred and profane, affords 
the fact that all nations except the Jews were idolaters at the same 
times and ages. 

Medals, representing the sun, with its rays of light, have been 
found in the mounds, made of a very fine clay, and colored in the 
composition, before it was hardened by heat, from which it is in- 
ferred they worshipped the sun. It is also supposed that they 
worshipped the moon, both from their semicircular works, which 
represent the new moon, and also, from the discovery of copper 
medals, round like the moon in its full, being smooth, without any 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 273 

rays of light, like those which represent the sun. The worship of 
the sun, moon and stars was the worship of many nations in the 
earliest ages, not only soon after the flood, but all along, cotem- 
porary with the existence of the Jews as a nation, and also suc- 
ceeding the Christian era, and till the present time, as among the 
pagan Mexicans. 

Nos. 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, represent the shapes of the stone 
uxes, pestle, and other articles spoken of a few pages back. — 
See the Plate. 

As it respects the scientific acquirements of the builders of the 
works in the west, now in ruins, Mr. Atwater says, " when tho- 
roughly examined, have furnished matter of admiration to all in- 
telligent persons, who have attended to the subject. Nearly all 
the lines of ancient works found in the whole country, where the 
form of the ground admits of it, are right ones^ pointing to the 
four cardinal points. Where there are mounds enclosed, the 
gateways are most frequently on the east side of the works, to- 
wards the rising sun. Where the situation admits of it, in their 
military works, the openings are generally towards one or more 
of the cardinal points. From which it is supposed they must 
have had some knowledge of astronomy, or their structures would 
not, it is imagined, have been thus arranged. From these cir- 
cumstances also, we draw the conclusion, that the first inhabi- 
tants of America, emigrated from Asia, at a period coeval with 
that of Babylon, for here it was that astronomical calculations 
were first made, 2234 years before Christ. 

" These things could never have so happened, with such inva- 
riable exactness, in almost all cases, without design. £i On the 
whole," says Atwater, " I am convinced from an attention to 
many hundreds of these works, in every part of the west which 
I have visited, that their authors had a knowledge of astronomy." 

Our ancient works continued into Mexico, increasing in size 
and grandeur, preserving the same forms, and appear to have 
been put to the same uses. The form of our works is round, 
square, triangular, semicircular and octangular, agreeing, in all 
these respects, with those in Mexico. The first works built by 
the Mexicans, were mostly of earth, and not much superior to 
the common ones on the Mississippi." The same may be said of 
the works of tkis sort over the whole earth, which is the evidence 

18 



274 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

that all alike belong to the first efforts of men, in the very first 
ages after the flood. 

" But afterwards temples were erected on the elevated squares, 
eircles, &c, but were still like ours, surrounded by walls of earth.. 
These sacred places, in Mexico, were called " teocalli" which 
in the vernacular tongue of the most ancient tribe of Mexicans, 
signifies " mansions of the gods. 77 They included within their 
sacred walls, gardens, fountains, habitations of priests, temples, 
altars, and magazines of arms. This circumstance may account 
for many things which have excited some surprise among those 
who have hastily visited the works on Paint creek, at Portsmouth,, 
Maritetta, Circleville, Newark, &c. 

It is doubted by many to what use these works were put; whe- 
ther they were used as forts, camps, cemeteries, altars, and tem- 
ples; whereas they contained all these either within their walls; 
or were immediately connected with them. Many persons cannot 
imagine why the works, at the places above mentioned, were 
so extensively complicated, differing so much in, form, size, and' 
elevation, among themselves.' 7 But the solution is undoubtedly,, 
"they contained within them, altars, temples cemeteries, habita- 
tions of priests, gardens, wells, fountains, places devoted to sac- 
red purposes, of various kinds, and the whole of their warlike 
munitions, laid up in arsenals, These works were calculated for 
defence, and were resorted to in cases of the last necessity, 
where they fought with desperation. We are warranted in this 
conclusion, by knowing that these works are exactly similar to 
the most ancient now to be seen in Mexico, connected with the 
fact, that the Mexican works did contain within them all that we 
have stated. 



Great size of some of the Mexican Mounds. 

The word Teocalli, Humboldt says, is derived from the name 
of one of the gods to which they were dedicated, Tezcatlipoca, 
the Brahma of the Mexicans. The pyramid of Cholula, was 
6eated on a tumulus with four stages, and was dedicated to Que- 
tzalcotl, one of the mysterious characters that appeared among 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 275 

tke ancient Mexicans, said to have been a white and bearded man, 
before spoken of. The teocalli, or pyramid of Cholula, is sixty 
rods in circumference, and ten rods high. In the vale of Mexico, 
twenty-four miles northeast from the capital, in a plain that bears 
the name of Micoatl, or the path of the dead, is a group of pyra- 
mids, of several hundred in number, generally about thirty feet 
high: in the midst of these are two large pyramids, one dedicated to 
the sun, the other to the moon; the sun pyramid is ten rods thirteen 
feet high, and its length nearly thirty-five rods, and of a propor- 
tionable thickness; that of the moon is eight rods and eleven feet 
in perpendicular height, but its base is not specified by Humboldt, 
from whose researches we have derived this information. The 
small pyramids, which surrounded the two dedicated to the sun 
and moon, are divided by spacious streets, running exactly north 
and south, east and west, intersecting each other at right angles, 
forming one grand palace of worship, and of the dead. It is the 
tradition of the Mexicans, that in the small tumuli, or pyramids, 
were buried the chiefs of their tribes. We also here ascertain 
that the builders of these two vast houses of the sun and moon had 
indeed a knowledge of the cardinal points of the compass, for this 
arrangement could never have taken place from mere chance — it 
must have been the result of calculation, with the north star, or 
pole, in view. On the top of those teocallis, were two colossal 
statues of the sun and moon, made of stone, and covered with 
plates of gold, of which they were stripped by the soldiers of 
Cortez. Such were some of the pyramids of Egypt, with colossal 
statues. 

This tremendous work is much similar to one found in Egypt, 
called the "Cheops and the Mycerinus," round about which were 
eight small pyramids; only the Egyptian work is much less than 
the Mexican one, yet their fashion is the same. 



Predilection of the Ancients io Pyramids. 

In those early ages of mankind, it is evident there existed an 
Vnaccountable ambition among the nations, seemingly to outdo 



£76 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

each other in the height of their pyramids ; for Humboldt men- 
tions the pyramids of Porsenna, as related by Varro, styled the 
most learned of the Romans, who flourished about the time of 
Christ; and says there were, at this place, four pyramids, eighty 
meters in height, which is a fraction more than fifteen rods per- 
pendicular altitude; the meter is a French measure, consisting of 
3 feet 3 inches. 

Not many years since was discovered, by some Spanish hun- 
ters, on descending the Cordilleras, towards the gulf of Mexico, 
in the thick forest, the pyramid of Papantla. The form of this 
teocalli or pyramid, which had seven stories, is more tapering 
than any other monument of this kind yet discovered, but its 
height is not remarkable, being but fifty-seven feet — its base but 
twenty-five feet on each side. However, it is remarkable on one 
account: it is built entirely of hewn stones, of an extraordinary 
size, and very beautifully shaped. Three stair-cases lead to its 
top, the steps of which were decorated with hieroglyphical sculp- 
ture and small niches, arranged with great symmetry. The num- 
ber of these niches seems to allude to the 318 simple and com- 
pound signs of the days of their civil calendar. If so, this monu- 
ument was erected for astronomical purposes. Besides, here is 
evidence of the use of metallic tools, in the preparation and build- 
ing of this temple. 

In those mounds were sometimes hidden the treasures of kings 
and chiefs, placed there in times of war and danger. Such was 
found to be the fact, on opening the tomb of a Peruvian prince, 
when was discovered a mass of pure gold, amounting to 4,687,500 
dollars. — ( Humboldt 7 s Researches, vol. 1, p. 92.) 

The pyramids of the Ohio are, in several instances, built in the 
same manner, with several stages, on the tops of which were, 
unquestionably, temples of wood, in the day of their glory, when 
their builders swarmed, in populous ten thousands, over all the 
unbounded west; but time has destroyed all fabrics of this sort, 
while the mounds on which they stood in giddy grandeur remain, 
but stripped of the habiliments of architecture, and the embellish- 
ments of art. 

There is, in Central America, to the southeast of the city of 
Cuernuvaca, on the west declivity of Anahuac, an isolated hill, 
which, together with the pyramid raised on its top by the ancients 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 277 

of that country, amounts to thirty-five rods ten feet altitude. The 
ancient tower of Babel, around which the city of Babylon was 
afterwards built, was a mere nothing compared with the gigantic 
work of Anahuac, being but 2400 feet square, which is 150 rods, 
or nearly so; while the hill we are speaking of, partly natural 
and partly artificial, is at its base 12,066 feet : this, thrown into 
rods, gives 754, and into miles, is 2§, wanting eight rods, which 
is five times greater than that of Babel. 

This hill is a mass of rocks, to which the hand of man has 
given a regular conic form, and which is divided into five stories 
or terraces, each of which is covered with masonry. These ter- 
races are nearly sixty feet in perpendicular height, one above the 
other, besides the artificial mound added at the top, making its 
height near that of Babel; besides, the whole is surrounded with 
a deep broad ditch, more than five times the circumference of that 
Babylonian tower. 

Humboldt says, we ought not to be surprised at the magnitude 
and dimensions of this work, as on the ridge of the Cordilleras of 
Peru, and on the other heights, almost equal to that of TenerifFe, 
he had seen monuments still more considerable. Also in Canada 
he had seen lines of defence, and entrenchments of extraordinary 
length, the work of some people belonging to the early ages; those 
in Canada, however, we imagine to be of the Danish origin, and 
to have been erected in the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries of the 
Christian era, for reasons hereafter shown. 

If then, as Humboldt states, there were found on the plains of 
Canada, lines of defence of extraordinary length, it affords an ar- 
gument that the Norwegians and other northern nations may not 
only have made settlements there, but became a kingdom, a body 
politic and military, and waged long and dreadful wars with oppo- 
sing powers, who were unquestionably the Indians, who had al- 
ready driven away the more ancient inhabitants of America, the 
authors of the western mounds and tumuli. But respecting this 
stone monument of art, found by the hunters, which we have 
described above, it is said that travellers who have attentively ex- 
amined it, were struck with the polish and cut of the stones, the 
care with which they have been arranged, without cement between 
the joints, and the execution of the sculpture with which the 
stones are decorated — each figure occupying several stones, and 



278 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

from the outlines of the animals which they represent, not being 
broken by the joints of the stones, it is conjectured the engravings 
were made after the edifice was finished. But the animals and 
men sculptured on the stone of this pyramid, afford a striking evi- 
dence of the country from which the ancestors of those who built 
it came. There are crocodiles spouting water, and men sitting 
even cross-legged, according to the custom of several Asiatic na- 
tions. Finally, the whole of the American works, of the most 
ancient class, from Canada to the extreme parts of South Ameri- 
ca, resemble those which are daily discovered in the eastern parts 
of Asia. 

From the deep ditch, with which the greater monument we 
have been describing is surrounded, the covering of the terraces, 
the great number of subterranean apartments, cut into the solid 
rock, on its northern side, the wall that defends the approach to 
its base, — it is believed to have been a military work, of great 
strength. The natives, even to this day, designate the ruins 
of this pyramid by the name that signifies a citadel, or castle. — 
The pyramid of Mexitli, found in another part of Mexico, 
called the great temple of Tenochtitlan, contained an arsenal ; 
and during the war of the Spaniards With the devoted Mexicans, 
was alternately resorted to as a fort of defence, and a place of 
security. 

Nothing of the warlike character could exceed the grandeur of 
a fight maintained from the base to the summit of one of these 
tremendous teocalis, or pyramids. We may suppose the foe ga- 
thered from their more scattered work of ruin, and circling, with 
yells of fury, the immediate precincts of the mound, while the 
rushing multitude fly from their burning habitations towards this 
last resort. -The goal is gained; the first who reach it ascend to 
its top; rank after rank succeed, till in frightful circles of fero- 
cious warriors, the whole pyramid is but one living mass of fury. 
Now the enemy come pouring round as a deluge, and begirt this 
final refuge of the wailing populace, while warrior facing war- 
rior, each moment felis its thousands, by the noiseless death-stEtb 
of the dirk of copper; while from the ranks above, the silent but 
vengeful arrow doss its work of death. Here, from the strong 
arm and well practised sling, stones with furious whizzing through 
the air cover in showers the distant squadron with dismay. Circl* 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 279 

;after circle, at the base, both of invader and invaded, fall together 
in glorious ruin. Now the top, where waved such signals of 
defiance as rude nations could invent, becomes thinned of its 
defenders, who, pressing downward, as the lower ranges are cut 
in pieces, renew the fight. Now the farthest circle of the enemy 
nears the fatal centre. Now the destinies of conflicting nations 
draw nigh; those of the pyramid have thrown their last stone ; 
the quiver is emptied of its arrows; the last spear of flint and 
battle-axe have fled, with well directed aim, amid the throng. 
Surrender, captivity, slavery, and death, wind up the account ; 
a tribe becomes extinct, whose bones, when heaped together, 
make a new pyramid. Such, doubtless, is the origin of many of 
the frightful heaps of human bones, found scattered over all the 
west. 

We learn from Scripture, that in the earliest times the temples 
of Asia, such as that of Baal-Berith, at Shechim, in Canaan, were 
not only buildings consecrated to worship, but also entrenchments 
in which the inhabitants of a city defended themselves in times of 
war : the same may be said of the Grecian temples, for the wall 
which formed the parabolis alone afforded an asylum to the besie- 
ged. — (Humboldt.) 

The ancient Carthagenians, the sworn and eternal enemies of 
the Romans, practised raising mounds of earth over their glorious 
dead. Hannibal, their famous general, who for a while so suc- 
cessfully combated the Roman armies, almost in sight of the im- 
perial city, was thus honored. At the place where he fell by his 
own hand, having poisoned himself to escape the scorn of his vic- 
tors, was raised a lofty mound of earth over his remains, exactly 
like the one which marks the place where sleep the ashes of 
Achilles, on the plains of Troy. 

The mound of Hannibal was erected one hundred and eighty- 
two years before Christ. If, therefore, the Carthagenians, the 
Greeks, the Romans, the more ancient Phoenicians, the Egyp- 
tians, the Jews, and all the first nations immediately succeeding 
the flood, were found in this practice, is it not fairly inferred that 
branches or colonies of these same nations or races of men, were 
also the authors of the mounds of America, found scattered over 
its mighty regions'? 

Clavigero,who was well acquainted with the history of the Mex- 



280 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

icans and Peruvians, professes to point out the places from whence 
they emigrated, several places they stopped at, and the times which- 
they continued to sojourn there. This, we understand, is the same 
as related before in this work, written by Humboldt, and describes 
the emigration of the Azteca tribes from Aztalan, or the western 
States, to Mexico, which commenced to take place not long after 
the conquest of Judea by Titus. Clavigero supposes these nations 
of Aztalan came from Asia, across the Pacific, from the region 
along the coast of the Chinese sea and islands, reaching America 
not far from Bhering's strait, and from thence followed along the 
coast of the Pacific, till they came, in process of time, to a milder- 
climate. 

To this Mr. Atwater adds, and supposes them to have from 
thence worked across the continent, as well as in other direc- 
tions, as far as the regions of the western States and territories, 
where they may have lived thousands of years, as their works 
denote. 

Others may have found their way into South America, by 
crossing the Pacific and Atlantic, at different times and places. — 
Greenlanders have been driven upon the coast of Iceland, which 
is a distance of at least a thousand miles. Thus transported by 
winds, waves and stress of weather, man has found all the islands 
of all the seas. In the same way may have arrived persons from 
Africa and Europe, Australasians, Chinese, Hindoos, Japanese, 
Burmans, Kamskatdales and Tartars on the coasts of America^ 
in the first ages. 



A Specimen of Antediluvian Letters, 

Although we have before bestowed a few thoughts on the sub- 
ject of antediluvian letters, yet we are inclined to state, farther, 
that our opinion is still more confirmed that letters,whether as pic- 
tures of articles, or of ideas and words, were in use before the 
flood, from the late discoveries made on pulling down the founda- 
tions of the tower of Babel. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 



281 



The reason we introduce this subject again is, that at the time 
the previous pages went to press, we had not obtained the beau- 
tiful fac-simile specimen of some of the letters of that tower built 
by Nimrod, son of Ham, and grandson of Noah, and are here 
set forth. 




These letters are presented to the public by Sir Robert^Ker 
Porter, who examined them on the -spot, that is, at the tower,f in 
1820, on the Euphrates, an account of which can be seen at large 
in his Travels in Persia, Armenia, the country round about the 
mountains of Ararat, Georgia, Babylon, and the vast plains and 
regions of the ancient Tartars, or more properly Scythians, vol. 
2, p. 395. 

The invention of letters is, by all who have given their attention 
to this exceedingly interesting subject, ascribed to the Phoenicians, 
who were black, as the very climax of antiquity, going back to 
the time coeval with Abraham, 2000 B. C. But from the abund- 
ance of letters, not pictures of things, found on the bricks of Ba- 
bel, it certainly is ascertained that Nimrod has here availed him- 
self of the art learned from his grandfather Noah, to record his. 



*282 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

own history, that of the deluge, the family of man saved in the 
ark, the institutions of men before the flood, the creation of the 
first man and woman, as also the erection of the tower, and his 
own laws and religion. We do not certainly know that such is 
the history written on these bricks, yet it is highly probable, as 
those subjects would be the most likely to engross his attention, 
and that of all other men at the time, and are therefore supposed 
to compose a history, as above expressed. 

The reader will perceive that the writing is in perpendicular 
columns, a mode known to the most ancient Chinese, although 
horizontal writing is practised in that country yet, more fre- 
quently, according to Good, and by the Chinese it is said to be 
the most ancient. The varieties of these letters are found to be 
immense, yet they all partake of a similar formation, which is 
arrow-headed, and in our opinion stand at the head of all the let- 
ters of the human race, and are the same which were in use be- 
fore the flood. But whether they were invented by man at first, 
or were received from God by Adam, Seth or Enoch, is a ques- 
tion among the most learned. Some are of the opinion that let- 
ters are the result of improvement from picture writing, and 
others that they were received by inspiration. We incline, how- 
ever, to believe them the invention of man; yet we do not forget 
that " Man hath his understanding by the inspiration of God." — 
(Job.) 

It is said by the same traveller, that on his leaving the bank of 
the river Ingouletz he entered on the dreary steppe or desert 
plains, where he observed innumerable tumuli, or mounds; and 
some of a breadth and height hardly credible. He says the mounds 
in this immense region of the dead, vary greatly in size, and that 
where one of unusual magnitude is found, it is generrlly surroun- 
ded by several smaller ones. So also in America. It is the opi- 
nion of this most intelligent traveller that there should be no doubt 
but the larger sort of these tumuli were raised over the bodies of 
princes and heroes, and that the smaller ones cover the remains 
of the followers of their armies or of their state. But that so vast 
an expanse should be occupied by monuments of the dead, extend- 
ing regularly to the very farthest extent of sight, jseeemed almost 
beyond belief ; yet there they were, and the contemplation was as 
awful as the view was amazing. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 283 

His first impression, he says, on beholding the immensity of 
these tumuli, was that he was in some famous field of battle, vast 
enough for the world trf have been lost in. Herodotus thus de- 
scribes the burial place of princes among the ancient Scythians. 
He says a large quadrangular excavation was made in the earth, 
in dimensions more like a hall of banquet than a grave,and within 
it was placed a sort of bier bearing the body of the dece ased prince. 
Daggers were laid at various distances around him, and a number 
of golden goblets ; the whole then covered with pieces of wood, 
and branches of the willow tree. This done, the hollow was soon 
filled up, and surmounted with earth by the multitudes following 
in the train. 

Herodotus also describes the great tumulus erected over the 
remains of Alyates, the father of Croesus, which in part still exists 
near the ancient city of Sardis. He describes it as of a prodigious 
height, having a base of stones, and that three classes of people 
were employed to raise up its enormous bulk. This tumulus was, 
in the time of Strabo, though partly destroyed, still two hundred 
feet high, and its circumference three-fourths of a mile. This 
mound or tumulus was erected about 600 years before Christ; as 
this Alyates, the father of Croesus, was contemporary with Nebu- 
chadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the same of whom the Scriptures 
give an account. All about that region, (the tower of Babel,) 
mounds are still immense in numbers, copied from the first, that 
of Babel, and Babel, it is likely, from the same practice once in 
use before the flood, to mark the places where slept the remains 
of the mighty dead, whose deeds attracted the eye of heaven it- 
self, and provoked its thunders to exterminate the race, in the 
horrors of the deluge. 



Voyages and Shipping of the Mongol Tartars, and Settle- 
ments on the Western Coast of America. 

The whole western coast of the American continent, from op- 
posite the Japan islands, in latitude from 40 to 50 degrees north, 
down to Patagonia, in latitude 40 south — a distance of more than 



284 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

six thousand miles — it would appear was once populous with such 
nations as peopled the Japan islands, and the eastern shores of 
Asia, Chinese Tartary, China, and Farther India; who also peo- 
pled the islands between with their various nations. 

A cross made of fine marble, beautifully polished, about three 
feet high, and three fingers and width in thickness, was found in an 
Indian temple. This,, it appears, was kept as sacred, in a palace 
of one of the Incas, and held in great veneration by the natives 
of South America. When the Spaniards conquered that country 
they enriched this cross with gold jewels, and placed it in the ca- 
thedral of Cuzco. But how came this emblem of Christianity in 
America'? There were in the service of the Mongols, in the 13th 
century, many Nestorians, a sect of Christians. The conqueror 
of the king of eastern Bengal was a Christian, which was in 
1272, A. D. 

Under this king, a part of an expedition was sent to conquer the 
islands of Japan, in large Chinese vessels, and supposed to have 
been commanded by these Christian Nestorians, as officers, being 
more trust-worthy, and more expert in warlike manoeuvres than 
the Mongol natives. This expedition by some means found their 
way from the Japan islands, (which are west from North Amer- 
ica, in north latitude 35 degrees,) to the coast of America, in the 
same latitude, and landed at a place called, in the Mexican lan- 
guage, Culcaan, opposite New California, in north latitude about 
35 degrees. 

In 1273 A. D., Kublai, a Mongol emperor, it appears, became 
master of all China : at that time, they were in the possession of 
the knowledge of ship building, so that vessels of enormous size 
were constructed by them, so great as to carry more than a thou- 
sand men; being four masted, not rigged as vessels now are, yet 
well adapted to take advantage of the winds. In this way, this 
emblem, the cross, may have found its way here. They were so 
solidly and conveniently made, as to carry elephants on their 
decks. The Peruvians had a tradition that many ages before their 
conquest by the Spaniards, there landed on their coast, at St. 
Helen's point, vessels manned with giants, having no beard, and 
were taller from their knees downward than a man's head ; that 
they had long hair, which hung loose upon their shoulders, and 
that their eyes were wide apart, and very big in other parts of 
their bodies. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 285 

This description is supposed descriptive of the elephants only, 
with their riders, blended both in one animal: as they did in after 
years, when the Spaniards rode on horses, they took them at first 
to be all one animal. 

There remains not a doubt that the Mongol Tartars found their 
way from China to the west of America in shipping. The voyage 
is not so great as to render it impossible, as that a French vessel, 
in the year 1721, sailed from China, and arrived at a place called 
Valle de Naadras, on the coast, in fifty days. The Phoenician 
letters were known among the Mongol nations. If, therefore, 
they found their way to America, we at once account for the 
Phoenician characters found in caverns, and cut in rocks of that 
country. 

A description of what is supposed a Chinese Mongol town,to the 
west, in latitude 39, in longitude 87, called by themselves, when 
first visited by the Spaniards, Talomeco, is exceedingly curious, 
and situated on the bank of a river running into the Pacific from 
the territory now called Oregon, only four degrees south of Lake 
Erie, and in longitude 87, or exactly west of Ohio, in latitude 39. 
It was well built, and contains five hundred houses, some of 
which are large and show well at a distance. It was situated on 
the banks of a river. Hernando Soto dined with a cacique named 
Guachaia, and was entertained with as much civility as exists 
among polished nations. The suit of servants stood in a row with 
their backs against the wall. This is an eastern fashion. While 
the cacique was at dinner, he happened to sneeze, on which the 
attendants respectfully bowed : this, too, was an ancient eastern 
usage. After the repast was finished, the servants all dined in 
another hall. The meat was well cooked, the fish properly roasted 
or broiled. 

They had a knowledge of dressing furs with neatness ; deer 
skins were prepared with softness and delicacy, with which they 
clothed themselves. 

The principal pride and grandeur of this people, however, con- 
sisted in their temple, which stood in the town of Talomeco, which 
was also the sepulchre of their caciques, or chiefs. The temple 
was a hundred paces long,which is eighteen rods, and forty wide, 
which is seven rods and eight feet. Its doors were wide, in pro- 
portion to its length. The roof was supported by posts from the 



286 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ground, and thatched neatly with split twigs, and built sloping, to 
throw off the rain. It was thickly decorated with different sized 
shells, connected together in festoons, which shone beautifully ia 
the sun. 

On entering the temple, there were twelve wooden statues, of 
gigantic size,with menacing and savage faces, the tallest of which 
was eight feet high. They held in their hands, in a striking pos- 
ture, clubs adorned with copper. Some had copper hatchets, 
edged with flint ; others had bows and arrows, and some held 
long pikes, pointed with copper. The Spaniards thought these 
statues worthy of the Romans. On each of the four sides of the 
temple there were two rows of statues, the size of life — the upper 
row of men, with arms in their hands — the lower row of women. 
The cornice in the temple was ornamented with large shells, min- 
gled with pearls and festoons. 

The corpses of these caciques were so well embalmed that there 
was no bad smell ; they were deposited in large wooden coffers, 
well constructed, and placed upon benches, two feet from the 
ground. In smaller coffers, and in baskets, the Spaniards found 
the clothes of the deceased men and women, and so many pearls 
that they distributed them among the officers and soldiers, by 
handfulls. The prodigious quantity of pearls; the heaps of col- 
ored chamois or goat skins ; clothes of marten and other well 
dressed furs ; the thick, well made targets of twigs, ornamented 
with pearls, and other things found in this temple and its magazines 
which consisted of eight halls of equal magnitude, made even the 
Spaniards who had been in Peru admire this as the wonder of the 
new world. 

The remains of cities and towns of an ancient population exist 
every where on the coast of the Pacific, which agree, in fashion, 
with the works and ruins found along the Chinese coasts, exactly 
west from the western limits of North America; showing beyond 
all dispute that in ancient times the countries were known to each 
other, and voyages were reciprocally made. The style of their 
shipping was such as to be equal to voyages of that distance, and 
also sufficient to withstand stress of weather, even beyond ves- 
sels of the present times, on account of their great depth of keel 
and size. 

44 The Chinese ships have a single deck, below the space of 



ANT> DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 287 

which is divided into a great number of cabins, sometimes not 
less than sixty, affording accommodations for as many merchants 
with their servants. They have a good helm. Some of the larger 
ships have besides the cabin, thirteen bulk-heads or divisions in the 
hold, formed of thick planks mortised together. The object of this 
is to guard against springing a leak, if they strike on a rock, or 
should be struck by a whale, which not unfrequently occurs. — 
By this plan, if an accident did happen, only one of the divisions 
could be affected. The whole vessel was double planked, laid 
over the first planking; and so large were some of these vessels^ 
as to require a crew of three hundred sailors to manage them 
when at sea." — (See Marco Polo, Book 3cZ, chap. 1, and note 
1128— Rankin.) 

In A. D. 1275, the Tartars, under their general, called Moko r 
undertook the invasion of the Japan empire, which lies along ad- 
jacent to China between the western coast of North America and 
China, with a fleet of 4,000 sail, having on board two hundred 
and forty thousand men. But the expedition proved unsuccessful, 
as it was destroyed by a storm, driven and scattered about the 
Pacific ocean. — (Kempfer's History of Japan — Rankin.) From 
this we discover the perfect ability of the western nations, that is, 
west of America, to explore the ocean as suited their inclinations, 
in the earliest ages; for we are not to suppose the Tartars had 
just then, in 1275, come to a knowledge of navigation, but rather 
the greatness of this fleet is evidence that the art had arrived to 
its highest state of perfection long before. 

But had they a knowledge of the compass? This is an impor- 
tant inquiry. On this subject we have the following from the pen 
of the most learned antiquarian of the age, C S. Rafinesque, 
whose writings we have several times alluded to in the course of 
this work. 

This author says that in the year of the world 1200, or 2800 
B. C, or 450 years before the flood, the magnetic needle was 
known and in use, and that under the Emperor Hoangti, which 
was about 130 years nearer the time of the flood, reckoning from 
the creation, ships began to be invented; he even gives the names 
of two ship builders, Kong-ku, and Ho-ahu, who by order of the 
above named emperor, built boats, at first with hollow trees, and 



288 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

furnished them with oars, and were sent to explore places where 
no man had ever been. 

In the year 2037 B. C, or 307 years after the flood, under the 
Hia dynasty embassies were sent to China from foreign coun- 
ties beyond the sea,who came in ships to pay homage to the Hias 
or emperor. If a knowledge of the magnet, and its adaptation to 
navigation, was known before the flood, as appears from this 
writer's remarks, who derives this discovery from a perusal of 
the Chinese histories, it was of necessity divulged by Noah, to 
his immediate posterity, who, it is said, went soon after the con- 
fusion of the language at Babel, and planted a colony in China, 
or in that eastern country; as all others of mankind had perished 
in the flood, consequently there were none else to promulge it but 
his family. 

Dr. Clarke has given his opinion, in his comment on the book 
of Job, that the needle was known to the ancients of the east; he 
derives this from certain expressions of Job, chap, xxviii. ver. 18, 
respecting precious stones, which are : ei No mention shall be 
made of coral pearls ; for the price of wisdom is above rubies" 
That is, it is understood that the wisdom which aided man to make 
this discovery, and to apply it to the purposes of navigation, on 
the account of its polarity, is that wisdom which is above the 
price of rubies. " The attractive properties of loadstone must 
have been observed from its first discovery; and there is every 
reason to believe that the magnet and its virtues were known in 
the east long before they were discovered in Europe."— (Clarke. ) 

But it may be inquired, if the knowledge of the magnet and its 
application to the great purpose of navigation and surveying were 
understood in any degree, how came one branch of the descend- 
ants of the family of Noah — those who went east from Ararat, 
to have it, and the others, who went in other directions, to be 
ignorant of it, and had to discover it over again in the course of 
ages? We can answer this, only by noticing that many arts of 
the ancients of Europe and Africa are lost — how, we cannot tell; 
but in the same way this art was lost. Wars, convulsions, revo- 
lutions, sweeping diseases, often change the entire face and state 
of society; so that if it were even known to all the first genera- 
tion, immediately succeeding the flood, a second generation may 
have lost it, not dwelling in the vicinity of great waters. Having 
no use for such an art, would o£ necessity lose it. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 289 

In the year 1197, before Christ, a large colony from China, 
under the Yu dynasty, was sent to Japan, and other western 
islands, who drove out the Oni, or black inhabitants, the first set- 
tlers of those islands, a branch, it appears, of the family of Ham, 
who had found Jheir way across the whole continent of Asia, from 
Ararat, or else had by sea coasted along from the countries of the 
equator, their natural home, to those beautiful islands. 

From this trait of early settlement, we see the African, as he is 
now designated, as enterprising in the colonizing of new countries 
as they were in the study of astronomy, and of building, at the 
time^the Egyptians first merge to notice on the page of history. 
And if the Japan islands, a part of the earth as far from Ararat, 
the great starting point of man after the flood, as is America, and 
much farther, was found settled by the black race of Ham, why 
not therefore parts of America, as soon, or sooner? The pure 
negro has been found on some of the islands between China and 
America, which would seem to indicate that this race of people 
have preceded even the whites, or at least equalled them, in first 
peopling the globe after the deluge. 

Rafinesque, the great antiquarian, says the exact time when the 
Chinese first discovered or reached America, is not given in their 
books, but it was known to them, he says, and to the Japanese at 
a very early period, and called by them Fu Sham, and frequent- 
ed for trade. But who were here for them to trade with ? Our 
answer is, those first inhabitants, the white, the red and the black 
descendants of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth, who 
got on to the continent before it was severed from Asia and Afri- 
ca, in the days of Peleg, two hundred years after the flood of 
Noah. 

But there is another way of accounting for the appearance of 
the cross, the emblem of Christianity, besides the supposition of 
its having been introduced by the Nestorians, as stated on page 
273. There was a tradition among the Mexican Indians, when 
that country was first overrun by the Spaniards, that Chris- 
tianity had once been introduced into that country by a person 
whom they worshipped under the name of Quetzalcotl ; and ac- 
cording to the tradition of the Catholic church, and the opinions 
-©f several Spanish writers, this was none other than the apostle, 
St. Tkomas. 

19 



290 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 



A Further Account of Western Discoveries. 

Six miles from Lebanon, on the Little Miami, above the mouth • 
of Todd's fork, are curious remains of ancient works. The form 
of one of the forts is trapezoidal; the walls are of earth, and gen- 
erally eight or ten feet high ; but in one place, where it crosses 
the brow of the hill where it stands, it is eighteen feet high. The 
Little Miami passes by on the west, on the north are deep ravines, 
and on the south and southeast the same ravines continue, mak- 
ing it a position of great strength. The area of the whole enclo- 
sure is nearly a hundred acres ; the wall has numerous angles, 
retreating, salient and acute, from which are eighty outlets, or 
gateways — from which circumstance we learn that its citizens 
were very great in number, or so many gateways would not have 
been needed. Two mounds are in its neighborhood, from which 
walls run in different directions to the adjoining ravines. Round 
about this work are the traces of several roads : two of them are 
sixteen feet wide, elevated about three feet in their centre, like 
our turnpikes 

The Sioux country, on the Wabispinekan, St. Peters, and 
Yellow rivers, abounds with ancient entrenchments, mounds and 
fortifications. Six miles from St. Louis, is a place called the 
valley of bones, where the ground is promiscuously strewed with, 
human and animal bones. Some of the former are of an enor- 
mous size. 

On the river Huron, thirty miles from Detroit, and about eight 
miles from Lake St. Clair, are a number of small mounds, situa- 
ted on a dry plain or bluff of the river. Sixteen baskets full of 
human bones, of a remarkable size, were discovered in the earth 
while sinking a cellar on this plain for the missionary. Near the 
mouth of this river, (Huron) on the east bank, are ancient works 
representing a fortress, with walls of earth thrown up, similar to 
those of Indiana and Ohio. 

At Belle Fontaine, or Spring Wells, three miles below Detroit, 
are three mounds or tumuli, standing in a direct line, about ten 
rods apart. One of these hiving been opened, bones, stone axes 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 291 

and arrow-heads were found in abundance. Within the distance 
of a quarter of a mile of these, are still to be seen the remains of 
ancient fortifications — a breast-work, in some places three and 
four feet high, enclosing several acres of firm ground, in the cen- 
tre of an extensive swamp. 

"In the State of Indiana, Franklin county, near Harrisonville 
on the Whitewater river, eight miles from its mouth, on the north 
side, the traces of an ancient population literally strew the earth 
in every direction. On the bottoms or flats are a great number of 
mounds, very unequal in size. The small or.es are from two to 
four feet above the surface, and the growth of timber upon them 
small, not being over one hundred years old, while the others are 
from ten to thirty feet high, with trees growing on them, of 
the largest and most aged description/*' — (Broion's Western Ga- 
zetteer.) 

Mr. Brown, the author of the Western Gazetteer, from whose 
work we extract the following, says he obtained the assistance of 
the inhabitants for the purpose of making a thorough examination 
of the internal structure of these mounds. He examined from 
fifteen to twenty of them, and found them all except one to con- 
tain human bones — some filled with hundreds of all ages, thrown 
promiscuously together into great heaps. He found several sculls, 
leg and thigh bones, which plainly show that their possessors 
were persons of gigantic stature. The teeth of all the subjects 
he examined, were remarkably even and sound, handsomely 
and firmly planted. The fore teeth were very deep, and not so 
wide as those of the generality of white people. He discovered in 
one mound an article of glass, in form resembling the bottom of a 
tumbler, weighing five ounces. It was concave on both of its 
sides. 

In this mound were found several stone axes, such as are 
shown on the plate, with grooves near the heads to receive a 
withe, (which unquestionably served to fasten the helve on,) and 
several pieces of earthen ware. Some appeared to be parts Of 
vessels once holding six or eight gallons ; others were obviously 
fragments of jugs, jars and cups. Some were plain, others were 
curiously ornamented with figures of birds and beasts, drawn 
while the clay, or material of which they were made, was soft, 
before the process of glazing was performed. The glazer^s art 



29*2 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

appears to have been well understood by the potters who manu- 
factured this aboriginal crockery. One of the skulls taken out 
of a mound at this place, was found pierced with a flint arrow, 
which was still sticking in the wound, and was about six inches 
long. 

At the bottom of all the mounds he examined, there was found 
a. stratum of ashes, from six inches to two feet thick, which rests 
on the original soil; these ashes contain coals, fragments of brands 
and pieces of burnt human bones. It is somewhat singular to find 
that these people both buried and burnt their dead; yet it may be 
ihat such as were burnt were prisoners of war, who being bound 
and laid in heaps, were thus reduced to ashes, by heaping over 
them brush and dry wood. 

Near this place, (Harrisonville) on the neighboring hills north- 
east of the town, are a number of the remains of stone houses. — 
They were covered with soil, brush and full grown trees. Mr. 
Brown cleared away the earth, roots and rubbish from one of them, 
and found it to have been anciently occupied as a dwelling. It 
was about twelve feet square ; the walls had fallen nearly to the 
foundation, having been built with the rough stone of nature, like 
a stone wall. At one end of the building was a regular hearth, on 
which were yet the ashes and coals of the last fire its owners had 
enjoyed; before which were found the decayed skeletons of eight 
persons, of different ages, from a small child to the heads of the 
family. Their feet were found pointing towards the hearth; and 
were probably murdered while asleep. From the circumstance of 
the kind of house these people lived in, (which is the evidence of 
their not belonging to the mound inhabitants,) we should pro- 
nounce them to be a settlement of Welch, Scandinavians or Scotch, 
who had thus wandered to the west, from the first settlements 
made along the Atlantic, and were exterminated by the common 
Indians, who had also destroyed or driven away the authors of the 
mounds, many hundred years before these Europeans came to 
this country. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 293 



Various opinions of Antiquarians respecting the Original In- 
habitants of America. 

But we hasten to a conclusion of this work, by furnishing the 
reader with the opinions of several antiquarians, who stand high 
in the estimation of the lovers of research ; and among these is 
the late celebrated Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, professor of natural 
history. And as we have not room to give at length all that these 
gentlemen have published on this subject, we shall avail ourselves 
of extracts, only such as will show their final judgment as to what 
nations or races of men they were, who built the works of which 
we have given some account. 

In the following, we have the remarks and opinions of Dr„ 
Mitchell, in his communication to the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety, of which he was a member, 1815: 

"I offer you some observations on a curious piece of American 
antiquity, now in New -York. It is a human body, found in one 
of the limestone caverns of Kentucky: it is a perfect exsiccation; 
all the fluids are dried up. The skin, bones, and other firm parts 
are in a state of entire preservation. 

" The body is in a squatting posture, with the right arm reclin 
ing forward, and its hand encircling the right leg. The left arm 
hangs down by its side. The individual was a male, supposed to 
be not more than fourteen at its death. There is a deep and 
extensive fracture of the skull, near the occiput, which probably 
killed him. The skin has sustained but little injury, and is of a' 
dusky color, but the natural hue cannot be decided with exactness 
from its present appearance. The scalp, with small exceptions, 
is covered with reddish hair. The teeth are white and sound. — 
The hands and feet, in their shrivelled state, are slender and 
delicate. 

" In exploring a calcareous chamber, in the neighborhood of 
Glasgow, in the west, for saltpetre, several human bodies were 
found enwrapped carefully in skins and cloths. The outer enve- 
lopes of the bodies are a deer skin, dried in the usual way, and 
perhaps softened before its application, by rubbing. The next 
covering is a deer skin, the hair of which had been cut away by 



294 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

a sharp instrument, resembling a hatter's knife. The remnant 
of the hair and the gashes in the skin nearly resemble a sheared 
pelt of beaver. The next wrapper is of cloth, made of twine, 
doubled and twisted, but the threads do not appear to have been 
formed by tbe wheel, nor the web by the loom. The warp and 
filling seem to have been crossed and knotted by an operation like 
that of the fabrics of the northwest coast and of the Sandwich 
islands. The innermost tegument is a mantle of cloth like the 
preceding, but is furnished with large brown feathers, arranged 
and fashioned with great art, so as to be capable of guarding the 
living wearer from wet and cold. The plumage is distinct and 
entire, and the whole bears a near similitude to the feathery 
cloaks now worn by the nations of the northwest coast of Ame- 
rica. 

" It may now," adds Dr. Mitchell, ■" be expected that I should 
offer some opinion as to the antiquity and race of this singular 
exsiccation. First, then, I am satisfied it does not belong to the 
class of white men of which we are members. Nor do I believe 
that it ought to be referred to the bands of Spanish adventurers, 
who, between the 15th and 16th centuries rambled up the Missis- 
sippi, and along the tributary streams. I am equally obliged to 
reject the opinion that it belonged to any of the tribes of abori- 
gines now or lately inhabiting Kentucky. The mantle of feath- 
ered work and the mantle of twisted threads, so nearly resemble 
the fabrics of the natives of Wakash and the Pacific islands, that 
I refer this individual to that era of time, and that generation of 
men which preceded the Indians of Green river, and of the place 
where these relics were found." 

In another letter to the Society, of a later date, he requests the 
preservation of certain papers, " as worthy of being recorded in 
its archives, showing the progress of his mind in coming to the 
great conclusion that the three races, Malays, Tartars and Scan- 
dinavians contributed to make up the great American population, 
who were the authors of the various works and antiquities found 
on the continent." — (Am. Antiquarian, p. 315.) 

The fabrics accompanying the Kentucky bodies resemble very 
nearly those which encircled the mummies of Tennessee. On 
comparing the two sets of samples, they were ascertained to be as 
much alike as two pieces of goods of the same kind, made at dif- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 295 

Cerent factories of this country. Other antiquities of the same 
class have come to light; specimens of cloths, and some of the 
raw materials, all dug out of that unparalleled natural excavation, 
the Kentucky cavern, which is found to extend many miles, in 
different directions, very deep in the earth; has many vast rooms, 
one in particular of, eighteen hundred feet in circumference, and 
one hundred and fifty in height. For a very grand description of 
this cave, see Blake's Atlas, 1826, published at New-York, for 
subscribers. 

The articles found in this cave were sent to Dr. Mitchell, of the 
city of New-York, which were accompanied with the following 
note: " There will be found in this bundle two moccasins, in the 
same state they were when dug out of the Mammoth cave_, about 
two hundred yards within its mouth. Upon examination, it will 
be perceived that they are fabricated out of different materials: — 
one is supposed to be made of a species of flag or lily,which grows 
in the southern parts of Kentucky; the other of the bark of some 
tree, probably the pawpaw. There is a part of what is supposed 
to be a kinniconecke, or pouch, two meshes of a fishing net, and a 
piece of what is supposed to be the raw material, and of which 
the fishing net, pouch and moccasins were made. Also, a bowl, 
or cup, containing about a pint, cut out of wood, found also in the 
cave ; and lately, there has been dug out of it the skeleton of a 
human body, enveloped in a matting similar to that of the pouch. 
This matting is substantially like those of the plain fabric, taken 
from the copperas cave of Tennessee, and the saltpetrous cavern 
near Glasgow, in Kentucky." 

And what is highly remarkable, and worthy the attention of 
antiquarians, is, that they all have a perfect resemblance to the 
fabrics of the Sandwich, Caroline, and the Fejee islands, in the 
Pacific. We know the similitude of the manufactured articles, 
from the following circumstance: after the termination of the war 
in the island of Toconroba, wherein certain citizens of the United 
States were engaged as principals or allies, many articles of Fe- 
jee manufacture were brought to New- York by the victors. Some 
of them agree almost exactly with the fabrics discovered in Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee. They bear a strict comparison, the marks 
of a similar state of arts, and point strongly to a sameness of 
origin in the respective people who prepared them. Notwithstand- 



296 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ing the distance of their several residences at the present time, it 
is impossible not to look back to the common ancestry of the Ma- 
lays, who formerly possessed the country between the Alleghany 
mountains and the Mississippi river, and those who now inhabit 
the islands of the Pacific ocean. 

All these considerations lead to the belief that colonies of Aus- 
tralasians, or Malays, landed in North America, and penetrated 
across the continent in process of time to the region lying between 
the great lakes and the gulf of Mexico. There they resided, and 
constructed the fortifications, mounds and other ancient structures 
which are the wonder of all who have seen them. What has be- 
come of them? They have been probably overcome by the more 
warlike and ferocious hordes that entered our hemisphere from 
the northeast of Asia. These Tartars of the higher latitudes have 
issued from the great hive of nations, and desolated in the course 
of their migrations, the southern tribes of America, as they have 
done those of Asia and Europe. The greater part of the present 
American natives are of the Tartar stock, the descendants of the 
hardy warriors who destroyed the weaker Malays that preceded 
them. An individual of their exterminated race now and then: 
rises from the tomb, by which their identity of origin is ascer- 
tained. 

In a communication of Samuel L. Mitchell to De Witt Clinton, 
1826, he remarks that " the parallel between the people of Ame- 
rica and Asia affords this important conclusion, that on both con- 
tinents the hordes dwelling in higher latitudes have overpowered 
the more civilized though feebler inhabitants of the countries situ- 
ated towards the equator." 

As the Tartars have overrun China, so the Aztecas subdued 
Mexico; as the Huns and Alans desolated Italy, so the Chippewas 
and Iroquois prostrated the pepulous settlements on both banks of 
the Ohio. The surviving race,, in these terrible conflicts between, 
the different nations of the ancient native residents of North Ame- 
rica, is evidently that of the Tartars. 

The exterminated race, in the savage intercourse between the • 
nations of North America, in ancient days, appears clearly to 
have teen that of the Malays. The bodies and shrouds and cloth- 
ing of those individuals have, within a few years, been discovered 
in the caverns of saltpetre and copperas,within the States of Ken— 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 



297 



tucky and Tennessee. Their entire dried or exsiccated condition 
has led intelligent gentlemen, who have seen them, to call them; 
mummies. 

They are some of the most memorable of the antiquities that 
North America contains. The race or nation to which they be- 
longed is extinct, but in preceding ages, occupied the region situ- 
ated between lakes Ontario and Erie on the north, and of Mexico- 
on the south, and bounded eastwardly by the Alleghany moun- 
tains, and westwardly by the Mississippi river. 

But notwithstanding the celebrity, founded on the great erudition, 
and critical research of Professor Mitchell, we cannot subscribe 
to this opinion respecting the red-headed mummy now in the New 
York museum, found in a saltpetre cave in Kentucky. It is a 
well known fact, that invariably all the nations of the earth, who 
are of the swarthy or black complexion, have black hair, either 
straight or curled. But those nations belonging to the white class 
have a great variety of color of the hair — black, white, auburn, 
and red. We are sure this is a characteristic of the two classes 
of mankind, the dark and the white. If so, then the Kentucky 
body found in the cave is not of Malay origin, but of Scandina- 
vian; of whom, as a nation, it is said that the predominant color 
of the hair was red. 

And further, we object, that the traits of ancient population 
found in Canada, between lakes Ontario and Erie, to be of Malay 
origin, but rather of Scandinavian also. Our reason is as follows: 
it is unreasonable to suppose the Malays, Australasian and Poly- 
nesian nations of the islands of the Pacific, who were originally 
from the eastern coasts of China, situated in mild climates,, should 
penetrate so far north as the countries in Canada, to fix their ha- 
bitations ; but it is perfectly natural that the Scandinavian, the 
Welch, or the Scottish clans, all of whom inhabit cold, very cold 
countries, should be delighted with such a climate as any part of 
either Upper or Lower Canada. 

And. farther, as a reason that the Malay nations never inhabited 
any part of the Canadas,we notice that in those regions there are 
found no traces of their peculiar skill and labor, ascribed to them 
by Professor Mitchell, which are the great mounds of the west. — 
In Canada we know not that any have been discovered; but other 
works of warlike character abound there, in the form of long lines; 



398 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

of defensive preparations, corresponding with similar works in 
the north of Europe, and in many places in the State of New- 
York, and in other Atlantic States, as before noticed. On which 
account, we do not hesitate to ascribe the ancient traits of a former 
civilized population, found between lakes Ontario and Erie, to be 
of European rather than of Malay origin. 



Voyages of the Ancients from Italy and Africa to the Conti- 
nent of America and its adjacent Islands. 

Calmet, a celebrated writer, and well known as an ecclesiastic 
of the Catholic communion, who was highly versed in the antiqui- 
ties of past ages, brings forward the most classic authors of an- 
cient times respecting the discovery of America, and the origin of 
its inhabitants. 

He produces the writings of Hornius, son of Theodosius the 
Great, and Emperor of the West, who lived in the third century, 
as supported by the writings of Strabo, a native of Cappadocia, 
and was a historian and geographer at or about the time of the 
commencement of the Christian era, affirms as certain, that voy- 
ages from Africa and Spain into the Atlantic ocean were both 
frequent and celebrated. He says that Eudoxius, sailing from the 
Arabian gulf to Ethiopia and India, found a prow of a ship that 
had been wrecked, which, from its having the head of a horse 
carved on it, he knew belonged to a Phoenician bark ; and some 
Gaditana merchants declared it to have been a fishing vessel. — 
Laretius relates nearly the same circumstance. Hornius says, 
(continues Calmet,) that in very remote ages three voyages were 
made to America, the first by the Atlantes or descendants of Atlas, 
who gave his name to the Atlantic ocean and the island of Atlan- 
tides : this name (Atlantides,) Plato, who lived nearly 400 B. C, 
appears to have learned from the Egyptian priests, the general 
depositories ©f knowledge. 

The second voyage mentioned by Hornius, is given on the au- 
thority of Diodorus Siculus, who lived in the time of Julius Csesar, 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 299 

who says that the Phoenicians having passed the columns of Her- 
cules, (out of the Mediterranean sea at the strait of Gibraltar,) 
and being impelled by the violence of the wind, abandoned them- 
selves to its fury, and after experiencing many tempests, were 
thrown upon an island in the Atlantic ocean, distant many days' 
navigation to the westward of the coast of Lybia or Africa, which 
island possessed a fertile soil, had navigable rivers, and there were 
large buildings upon it. On their return, by the means of other 
adventurers, the report of this discovery soon spread among the 
Carthaginians and Romans, the former being harrassed by the 
wars of the latter, and the people of Mauritania sent a colony to 
that island with great secresy, that in the event of being overcome 
by their enemies, they might possess a place of safe retreat. 

Such were the descriptions which the Phoenicians gave of the 
beauty and fertility of this island, as well as of its opulent inhabi- 
tants, that the Romans became desirous of making themselves 
masters of it, and settling a colony there. This perplexed the 
Carthaginians, who began to fear that their countrymen would be 
enamored of a fertility so much praised, and abandon their native 
country to settle there. And on the other hand, they viewed it 
as a safe refuge in event of any unforeseen calamity, or if their 
republic in Africa should fail, to which, as being masters of the 
sea, they could easily retire, to secure themselves and families — 
more especially as the region was unknown to other nations. 

Aristotle, who lived and wrote about 350 years before Christ, 
continues Calmet, in his book, speaking of this island, says, the 
magistrates of Carthage having observed that many of their citi- 
zens who had undertaken the voyage thither had not returned, 
prohibited, therefore, under the penalty of capital punishment,any 
farther emigration, and ordered those who had remained there to 
return to their country, fearing that as soon as the affair should 
be known, other nations would endeavor to establish there a 
peaceable commerce. 

But there is an account of another voyage into the Atlantic, 
spoken of by Calmet, which was anterior to the preceding, and is 
attributed to Hercules, who by Galleo, (a writer of the sixteenth 
century,the same whose books and opinions about the Copernican 
system of astronomy were condemned by the Popish Council, in 
1634,) is ranked as contemporary with Moses, who lived nearly 



300 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

1600 B. C This Hercules, the strong man of antiquity, accord- 
ing to heathen mythology, was a great captain and leading char- 
acter, chief of the Canaanites, who fled from Palestine, from the 
wars of Joshua, and went to Africa, settling, as is supposed, on 
the western coast of that country. This same Hercules is sup- 
posed to have circumnavigated the globe, and is spoken of as 
having done so by Diodorus, and that he founded the city of Lecta 
in Septimania, but no writer has pointed out its situation. Ame- 
rica may have been that country, especially as Hercules made 
voyages into the Atlantic, between Africa and the continent of 
America to the south. 

Calmet, in his Commentary on the Jugurthine war, states, 
in the history of the kingdom of Numidia, written in the Punic 
language, that he had read an African account or tradition of the 
arrival in that country of Hercules, with an army of Medes, 
Persians and Arminians. These soldiers, he says, married Ly- 
bian women, who were black, and that their language impercep- 
tibly degenerated from its original purity, and in process of time 
the name of Medes and Arminians became changed to that of 
Maurucii or Moors. 

There is a strong probability that the Romans and Carthagini- 
ans, even 300 B. C, were well acquainted with the existence of 
this country, obtained by these early navigators, Hercules, Votan, 
the Carthaginians and Phoenicians: hence, as we have argued in 
various parts of this work, the tokens of the presence of the Greeks, 
Romans, Persians and Carthaginians appear in many parts of the 
continent. 

This opinion is believed by many of the early Spanish writers, 
who have written on the subject of the first population of this 
country, and have concluded, from the strongest evidence, that 
the Carthaginians, a people who were powerful some hundreds of 
years before Christ, and who were the eternal enemies of the 
Romans, have had much to do in colonizing America, as welt 
also as the ancient Tyrians, who before they had become amal- 
gamated with the Tyrians were Hivites, or serpent people, one 
of the nations who peopled ancient Canaan, and fled from the- 
arms of Joshua to Africa, and in process of time eame from thence- 
to America, and built the city of Otolum. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. - 301 



Further Remarks on the Subject of Human Complexions. 

As to the curious subject of the different complexions of man, I 
consider, says Dr. Mitchell, the human family under three divi- 
sions : 

1st. The tawny man, comprehending the Tartars, Malays, 
Chinese, the American Indians, of every tribe, Lasears, and other 
people of the same cast and breed. 

2d. The white man, inhabiting the countries of Asia and Eu- 
rope, situated north of the Mediterranean sea ; and in the course 
of his adventures, settling all over the world, among whom I 
reckon the Greenlanders.and the Esquimaux nations. 

3d. The black man, whose proper residence is in the regions 
south of the Mediterranean, particularly towards the interior of 
Africa. The people of Papua and Van Dieman's Land seem to 
be of this class. 

It is generally supposed, and by many able and ingenious men, 
that external physical causes, and combination of circumstances, 
which they call climate, have wrought all these changes in the 
human form and complexion. I do not, however, think them ca- 
pable of explaining the differences which exist among the nations, 
•on this principle. There is an internal physical cause of the 
greatest moment, which has scarcely been mentioned. This is 
the generative influence. If by the act of modelling the constitu- 
tion in the embryo and foetus, a predisposition to gout, madness, 
scrofula and consumption may be engendered, we may rationally 
conclude, with the sagacious d'Azara, that the procreative power 
may also shape the natures, tinge the skin, and give other peculi 
arities to the form of man. — (Am. Antq. p. 335.) 

This idea of the three original complexions, black, tawny and 
white, we have supposed was realized in the person of Noah's three 
sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth; and although Dr. Mitchell has 
not fixed on a starting place, he has, nevertheless, admitted the 
principle, and has referred the cause of complexion and shape to 
the procreative and generative act, excluding totally any influence 
which climate or food may be supposed to have, as has been con- 



302 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

tended by many; which, so far as we are able to understand his 
meaning, is referring the complexions of the human race imme- 
diately to the arbitrary act of God. To this doctrine we most 
cordially subscribe, because it is simple, natural and reasonable, 
the very way in which the Creator works. First fixing the 'prin- 
ciples of nature, as gravitation and motion, which keep the worlds 
in their courses. Were it not for these, all would stand still, and 
nature would die. Fire, in its endless variations, breathes through 
all matter, expands the leaves of all forests, and adorns them with 
all flowers, gives motion to the air, which, in that motion, is call- 
ed the winds of heaven. Fire gives liquescency to the waters of 
the globe : were it not for this, all fluids that now move over the 
earth in rivers, brooks and springs, or oceans, or passes by sub- 
terranean channels through the earth, or circulates in the pores of 
trees and herbage, with the watery fluids of all animated life, 
would stand still, would congeal, would freeze to one universal 
mass of death. 

Also, in the secret embryo of earth's productions, as in all 
vegetation, all animals, and all human beings, is fixed the 
principle of variety. Were it not for this, what vast confusion 
would ensue ! If all human beings looked alike, and all human 
voices sounded alike, there would be an end to society — to so- 
cial order — to the distinctions between friend and foe, relatives 
and strangers ; conversation would be misapplied — identity at an 
end. Subjects of investigation and research, arts and science, 
could have no objects to fix upon. Such a state of things would 
be a fearful retrograde toward a state of insensibility and non- 
existence. 

And is it not also as evident, that God has fixed, as well the 
secret principle which produces complexion, as it appears in an 
unmixed state in the human subject, as that he has the other prin- 
ciples just rehearsed, and equally as arbitrarily. Vegetation mixes 
and in this way gives varieties in form, color and flavor, not 
strictly original. Also, the original complexions, in their pure 
state of black, tawny and white, have also by mixtures produced 
their varieties; but at the outset, in the embryo, there must have 
been a first predisposing principle to each of these complexions, 
fixed on a more permanent basis than that of food and climate — 
or else food and climate, after these had made a white race of 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 303 

men, or a tawny race black, might be expected in due time, if 
moved to a climate favoring, to change them all back again, as at 
first, but this is contrary to all experience on the subject, in all 
ages and climates of the earth. Therefore, we fix on the idea of 
a first principle, placed in the generative powers of the sons of 
Noah, from whom their several progenies derived the black, tho 
red or tawny, and the white, in all the simplicity and beauty of 
natural operation. 

This curious subject, with the amount of argument on both 
sides of the question, (that is, whether human complexions are 
produced by food and climate, or are original,) is in a masterly 
manner attended to in the American edition of the new Edinburgh 
Encyclopedia, vol. 6. In that work, it is shown that climate, in 
hundreds of instances which respect the complexions of all the 
nations known on the globe, are found unchangeable. In the tor- 
rid climes, both the white and the black, with all the intermediate 
shades between the two extremes, are found, as also the black 
with* curled hair in the northern regions, in many countries of the 
old world. 

"As, therefore, the dark complexioned varieties of mankind are 
found near the poles — as people of the same complexion are found 
over the whole continent of America, under all its various cli- 
mates — a.s there are numerous instances of comparative fairness 
of complexion under the heat of a burning climate — as radical 
differences of complexion are found in the same regions, and even 
among the same people — and as there are numerous instances 
where the original complexion has remained permanent, notwith- 
standing it has been exposed to a change of climate for centuries, 
it may be fairly inferred that the characteristic complexions of the 
different varieties of the human race are not the result of climate. 
— (Encyclopedia, as above, p. 670. 

In another communication, which in part was on the same sub- 
ject, though addressed to the Secretary of the American Antiqua- 
rian Society, Dr. Mitchell says : "In that memoir (alluding to the 
one addressed to De Witt Clinton,) I maintained the doctrine that 
there were but three original varieties of the human race — the 
tawny man, the white man and the black — a division which I am 
pleased to observe the incomparable author of the Animal King- 
dom has adopted in France. 



304 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

The former of these seems to have occupied, in the earliest days, 
the plain watered by the Euphrates and the Tigris, while the white 
Arab, as he has sometimes been called, was found in the regions 
north of the Mediterranean sea, and the sable Arab, or negro, in- 
habited to the south of that expanse of water. 

Of the brown or tawny variety, are the eastern Asiatics, and 
western Americans, divisible into two great stocks, or genealo- 
gies ; first, those in high latitudes, whom I call Tartars ; and, 
second, those who inhabit low or southern latitudes, whom I con- 
sider as Malays. I am convinced that terms Tartar and Malay, 
for the present purposes of reasoning, are equally applicable to the 
two great continents ; and that, with the exception of the negro 
•colonies in Papau, and a few other places, the islanders in the Pa- 
cific are Malays. 

My observations led me, several years ago, to the conclusion 
that the two great continents Asia and America, were peopled by 
similar races of men ; and that America, as well as Asia, had its 
Tartars in the north, and its Malays in the south. America has 
had her Scythians, her Alans, and her Huns ; but there has been 
no historian to record their formidable migrations, and their bar- 
barous achievements ; how little of past events do we know. 

The comparison of the language spoken by these Asiatic and 
American nations, colonies and tribes, respectively, was begun by 
our learned fellow citizen, the late Dr. B. S. Barton. The work 
has been continued by the Adelangs and Vater, distinguished phi- 
lologists of Germany. Their profound inquiry into the structure 
of language and the elements of speech, embraces a more correct 
and condensed body of information concerning the original tongues 
of the two Americas, than was ever compiled and arranged before. 
Their Mithridates, a book on languages, surpasses all similar per- 
formances that have ever been achieved by man. 

0ne of my intelligent correspondents, who has surveyed with 
his own eyes the region watered by the Ohio, wrote me very late- 
ly a letter containing the following paragraph : 

"I have adopted your theory respecting the Malays, Polynesians 
and Alleghanians. This last nation, so called by the Lenni-lenapi y 
or primitive stock of our hunting Indians, was that which inhabited 
the United States, before the Tartar tribes came and destroyed 
them, and who erected the mounds, works, fortifications and tern- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 305 

pies of the western country. This historical fact is now proved 
beyond a doubt, by the traditions of the Lemi-lenapi Indian, pub- 
lished by Heckewelder, in the work issued by the Philosophical 
Society of Philadelphia. I may add, that Mr. Clifford, of Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky, has proved another identity between the Allegha- 
nians and Mexicans, by ascertaining that many supposed fortifica- 
tions were temples, particularly that of Circleville in Ohio, where 
human sacrifices were one of their rites. He has discovered their 
similarity with the ancient Mexican temples,, described by Hum- 
boldt, and has examined the bones of victims in heaps, the shells 
used in sacred rites, as in India, and the idol of baked clay, con- 
sisting of three heads." 

This opinion of human sacrifices was fully confirmed by the tes- 
timony of Mr. Manuel Liea, during the summer of 1818. He, on 
his return from the trading posts on the Upper Missouri, informed 
his fellow citizens at St. Louis, that the Wolf tribe of the Pawnee 
Indians yet followed the custom of immolating human victims. 
He purchased a Spanish prisoner, a boy about ten years old, 
whom they intended to offer as a sacrifice to the Great Star ; and 
they did put to death, by transfixing on a sharp pole, as an offer- 
ing to the object of their adoration, the child of a Paddo woman, 
who being a captive herself, and devoted to that sanguinary and 
horrible death, made her escape on horseback, leaving her new 
born offspring behind. The triad, or trinity of heads, (see the 
plats) instantly brings to mind a similar article, figured by the In- 
dians of Asia, and described by Mr. Maurice in his Oriental 
Researches. 

I received, a short time since, directly from Mexico, several 
pieces of cloth, painted in the manner that historians have often 
represented. I find the material in not a single instance to be cot- 
ton, as has been usually affirmed. There is not a thread indica- 
ting the use of the spinning wheels nor an intertexture showing 
that the loom or shuttle was employed. In strictness, therefore, 
there is neither cotton nor cloth in the manufacture. The fabrics, 
on the contrary, are uniformly composed of pounded bark, prob- 
ably of the mulberry tree, and resembles the bark oloths prepared 
to this day, in the Friendly and Society islands, in the Pacific 
ocean, as nearly as one piece of linen, or one blanket of wool re- 
sembles another. 

20 



306 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

I derive this conclusion from a comparison of the several sorts 
of goods. They have been examined together by several excel- 
lent judges. For, at a meeting of the New York Literary and 
Philosophical society, in February, 1819, 1 laid these specimens of 
bark cloth with their respective colorings and paintings, from 
Mexico, Otaheite and Tongataboo, upon the table, for the exami- 
nation of its members. All were satisfied that there was a most 
striking similitude among the several articles. Not only the fabric 
but the colors, and the materials of which they apparently con- 
sisted, as well as the probable manner of putting them on, seemed 
to me strong proofs of the sameness of origin, in the different 
tribes of a people working in the same way,' and retaining a same- 
ness in their arts of making a thing, which answers the purpose 
of paper, of cloth and a material for writing and painting upon. 

Soon after the arrival of these rolls from New Spain, filled with 
hieroglyphics, and imitative characters, I received a visit from 
three natives of South America, born at St. Bias, just beyond the 
isthmus of Darien, near the equater. They were of the Malay 
race, by their physiegnomy, form and general appearance. Their 
dark brown skins, their thin beards, the long, black, straight hair 
of their heads, their small hands and feet, and their delicate frame 
of body, all concur to mark their near resemblance to the Austral- 
asians ; while the want of high cheekbones, and little eyes, placed 
wide apart, distinguished them sufficiently from the Tartars. Says 
M. de la Salle, theBiscatongues,a tribe of western Indians, are cal- 
led weepers, as on the approach of a stranger they fall a weeping* 
But that which is yet more remarkable, and perhaps very reason- 
able in that custom, is that they weep much more at the birth of 
their children, than at their death ; because the latter is esteemed 
only by them as it were a journey or voyage, from whence they 
may return after the expiration of a certain time ; but they look 
upon their nativity as an inlet into an ocean of dangers and misfor. 
tunes. Compare this with a passage in the Terpischore of Hero- 
dotus, who flourished about 450 years before Christ, chap. 4th,. 
where, in describing the Thracians, he observes, f4 that the Trausi 
have a general uniformity with the rest of the Thracians, (a branch 
of the most ancient Greeks.) On the birth of a child, it is placed 
in the midst of a circle of its relations, who lament aloud the evils 
which, as a human being, he must necessarily undergo, all of 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 307 

which supposed evils, they particularly enumerate to the child, 
though it understands it not." — (Beloe?s Translation.) 

To find a custom among one of the Indian nations, in America, 
which so strikingly agrees with that of the Thracian, a branch of 
the most ancient Greek people, who existed many hundred years 
before Christ, is very extraordinary, and would seem to justify a 
belief that we have the descendants of the Greeks in our western 
forests ; which also argues that the ancestors of the tribe having 
this curious custom, came early to America, or they could not 
have so perfectly retained this practice, in their wanderings over 
Asia, who would inevitably have lost their ancient manners, by 
amalgamations. We have before shown in this work, that Greeks 
visited South America, in the time of Alexander the great, who for 
aught that can be objected, may have left a colony, and the Bis- 
catongues may bether descendants. 

"There is an opinion among the Seneca nation of the Iroquois 
confederacy, to this day, that eclipses of the sun and moon are 
caused by a Manitau, or bad Spirit, who mischievously intercepts 
the light intended to be shed upon the earth and its inhabitants. 
Upon such occasions, the greatest solicitude exists. All the indi- 
viduals of the tribe feel a strong desire to drive away the demon, 
and to remove thereby the impediment to the transmission of lumi- 
nous rays. For this purpose, they go forth, and by crying, shout- 
ing, drumming and the firing of guns, endeavor to frighten him, 
and they never fail in their object, for by courage and persever- 
ance, they infallibly drive him off. His retreat is succeeded by 

return of the obstructed light. Something of the same sort is 
practised among the Chippeways, when an eclipse happens. The 
belief among them is, that there is a battle between the sun and 
moon, which intercepts the light. Their great object, therefore, 
is to stop the fighting and separate the combatants. They think 
these ends can be accomplished by withdrawing the attention of 
the contending parties from each other, and diverting it to the Chip- 
peways themselves. They accordingly fill the air with noise and 
outcry. • Such sounds are sure to attract the attention of the war- 
ring powers. Their philosophers have the satisfaction of knowing 
that the strife never lasted long after their clamor and noisy oper- 
ations began. Being thus induced to be peaceful, the sun and 
moon separate, and light is restored to the Chippeways. 



308 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Now it is reported, on the authority of one of the Jesuit fathers 
of the French mission in India, that a certain tribe or people, whom 
he visited there, ascribed eclipses to the presence of a great drag- 
on. This creature, by the interposition of his huge body, obstruc- 
ted the passage of light to our world ; they were persuaded they 
could drive him away by terrifying sounds, in which they were 
always successful, as the dragon soon retired in great alarm, 
when the eclipses immediately terminated. 



Cannibalism in America. 

The practice of cannibalism exits in full force, in the Fejee 
islands. A particular and faithful account of it is contained in the 
14th volume of the Medical Repository, chaps. 209, and 215. — 
The history of the five Indian nations dependent upon the govern- 
ment of New York, by Dr. Colden, page 165 — 6, shows that the 
ferocious and vindictive spirit of the conqurer led him occasionally 
to feast upon his captive. The Ottawas having taken an Iroquois 
prisoner, made a soup of his flesh. The like has been repeatedly 
done since, on select occasions, by other tribes. Governor Cass, 
of Michigan, informed me, that among the Miamis, there was a 
standing committee, consisting of seven warriors, whose business 
it was to perform the man eating, required by public authority. 
The last of their cannibal feasts was on the body of a white man, 
of Kentucky, about forty years ago. The appointment of the 
committee to eat human flesh, has since that time, gradually be- 
come obselete ; but the oldest and last member of this cannibal so- 
ciety is well remembered, and died only a few years ago. 

A very circumstantial description of a cannibal feast, where a 
soup was made of the body of an Englishman, at Michilimackinack, 
about the year 1760, is given by Alexander Henry, Esq., in his 
book of travels through Canada and the Indian territories. In 
that work it was stated that man eating was then, and always had 
been, practised among the Indian nations, on returning from war, 
or on overcoming their enemies, for the purpose of giving them 
courage to attack, and resolution to die." — (Medical Repository, 
vol. 14, pp. 261, 262.) 

As extraordinary as this may appear, we are informed by Baron 
Humboldt, in his personal narrative, that "in Egypt, in the 13th 






AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 309 

century, five or six hundred years ago, the habit of eating human 
flesh pervaded all classes of society. Extraordinary snares were 
spread, for physicians in particular. They were called to attend 
persons who pretended to be sick, but who were only hungry, and 
it was not in order to be consulted, but devoured.' 7 Even now, 
the whole population of the large island, Sumatra, in the Indian 
ocean, oposite China, are Canabals. Notwithstanding they have 
as a people, a regular government, yet all criminals, who are 
reckoned worthy of death by their laws, are without exception, de- 
voured alive. But not in a savage and brutal manner, but most 
genteelly ; as each person concerned in the affair surround the 
condemned person as he is bound to a post, and in regular order 
cut away such part as the appetite fancies, eating it with pepper 
and salt, with great delight and relish ; while the poor wretch 
stands howling with pain, as he is eaten before his own eyes — till 
he falls down dead by loss of blood. — Masonic Record, page 123, 
No. 1, for 1830. 

Situated west, northwest and southwest of North America, in 
the Pacific ocean, are a vast number of islands, scattered over all 
that immense body of water, extending in groups quite across to 
China, along the whole Asiatic coast. The general character of 
these islanders is similar, though somewhat diversified in language, 
in complexion are much the same, which is copper, with the ex- 
ception only of now and then people of the African descent, and 
those of the Japan islands, who are white. 

By examining Morse, we find them in the practice of sacrific- 
ing human beings, and also of devouring them, as we find the sav- 
ages of America were accustomed to do from time immemorial ; 
having but recently suspended the appalling custom. 

It is doubtless a fact, that the earliest tribes who separated from 
the immediate regions about Ararat, passed onward to the east, 
across the countries now called Persia, Bucharia, and the Chinese 
empire, till they reached the sea, or Pacific ocean, opposite the 
American continent. 

From thence, in process of time, on account of an increase of 
population, they left the main continent, in search of the islands, 
and passing from one group to another, till all those islands be- 
came peopled, and until they reached even the western coast of 
not only South but North America. 



310 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

At the same time, tribes from the same region of Ararat, trav- 
elled westward, passing overall Europe and Southward, filling the 
regions of Africa, and the islands in the Atlantic ocean opposite 
the coasts of South and North America, till they also reached the 
mainland, meeting their fellows, after having each of them circum- 
ambulated half the earth. 

And having started from the regions of Ararat and the tower of 
Babel, with languages differing one from another, and having also 
in process of time, acquired habits arising from differences of cir- 
cumstances, mostly dissimilar one from the other, wars for the 
mastery the most dreadful must have ensued, each viewing the 
others as intruders, from whence they knew not. This is evident 
from the traditions of the inhabitants of the Americas ; some tribes 
pointing to the east, others to the west, and others again to the 
north, as the way from whence their ancestors came. According 
to Clavigero, the ancestors of the nations which peopled Anahuac, 
now called New Spain, might have passed from the northern 
countries of Europe, fas Norway,) to the northern parts of Amer- 
ica, on the coast of Labrador, which is called British America and 
Canada ; also from the most eastern parts of Asia to the most 
"western parts of America. This conclusion is founded on the 
constant and general tradition of those nations, which unanimous- 
ly say, that their ancestors came to Anahuac, or New Spain, from 
the countries of the north and northwest. This tradition is con- 
firmed by the remains of many ancient edifices, built by those 
people in their migrations. In a journey made by the Spaniads 
in 1606, more than two hundred years since, from New Mexico 
to the river which they call Tizan, six hundred miles from Ana- 
huac towards the northwest, they found there some large edifices 
and met with some Indians who spoke the Mexican language, and 
who told them that a few day's journey from that river, towards 
the north, was the kingdom of Tolan, and many other inhabited 
places, from whence the Mexicans migrated. In fact, the whole 
population of Anahuac have usually affirmed, that towards the 
north were the kingdoms and provinces of Tolan, Aztalan, Capal- 
lan, and several others, which are all Mexican names, now so de- 
signated ; but were we to trace these names to their origin, they 
would be found to be Mongol or Mogul origin, from Asia. Botu- 
rini, or Bouterone, a learned Antiquarian of Paris, of the 17th 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 311 

century, says, that in the ancient paintings of the Taltecas, a na- 
tion of Mexico, or more anciently called Anahuac was represented 
the migrations of their uncestors through Asia, and the northern 
•countries of America, until they established themselves in Tolan. 
(Morse, p. 618.) 

This river Tizan is, unquestionably the river Columbia, which 
belongs to the territory owned by the United States, bordering on 
the coast of the Pacific, in latitude 47 degrees north ; which from 
Anahuac, in Mexico, is about that distance (600 miles) and this 
river being the only one of much size emptying into the sea on 
that side of the Rocky mountains, between the latitude of Mexico 
and the latitude of the mouth of the Columbia, is the reason why 
that river, may almost with certainty, be supposed the very Indian 
Tizan. But still farther north, several day's journey, were the 
kingdoms and provinces of Tolon, Aztalan, and Capallan, which 
were probably in the latitude with the northern parts of the United 
State's lands west of the Rocky mountains, and filling all the re- 
gions east as far as the head waters of the great western rivers ; 
thence down those streams, peopling the vast alluvials in Indiana, 
Missouri, Illinois, Northwestern Territory, Ohio, Kentucky, Mis- 
sissippi, and so on to the gulf of Mexico. 

Although those kingdoms and provinces spoken of by the natives 
of Tizan, to these Spanish adventurers, had many hundred years 
before b een vacated of their population and grandeur ; yet it was 
natural for them to retain the tradition of their numbers and ex- 
tent : and to speak of them as then existing, which as to latitude 
and location, was true, although in a state of ruin, like the edifices 
at the Tizan, or Columbia. 

In an address delivered at New York, before the College of 
Physicians, by Dr. Mitchell, which relates to the migrations of 
Malays, Tartars and Scandinavians, we have the following : "A 
late German writer, professor Vater, has published at Leipsig, a 
book on the population of America. He lays great stress on the 
tongues spoken by the aborigines, and dwells considerably upon 
the unity pervading the whole of them,*from Chili to the remotest 
district of North America, whether of Greenland, Chippewa,Dele- 
ware, Natick, Totuaka, Cora or Mexico. Though ever so singu- 
lar and diversied, nevertheless the same peculiarity obtains among 
them all, which cannot be accidental, viz : the whole sagacity of 



312 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

that people from whom the construction of the American lan- 
guages and the gradual invention of their grammatical forms is- 
derived, has, as it were, selected one object, and over this diffused 
such an abundance of forms, that one is astonished, while only 
the most able philologist or grammarian of languages, by assidu- 
ous study, can obtain a general view thereof. 

' ' In substance, the author (Prof. Vater) says, that through 
various times and circumstances, this peculiar character is pre- 
served. Such unity, such direction or tendency, compels us- to 
place the origin in a remote period, when one original tribe or peo- 
ple existed, whose ingenuity and judgment enabled them to exco- 
gitate or invent such intricate formations of language as could not 
be effaced by thousands of years, nor by the influence of zones and 
climates. 

" Mr. Vater has published a large work, entitled Mithridates, in 
which he has given an extensive comparison of all the Asiatic, 
African and American languages, to a much greater extent than 
was done by our distinguished fellow citizen, Mr. Barton, of 
Philadelphia, professor of natural history. Dr. Vater concludes 
by expressing his desire to unravel the mysteries which relate to 
the new and old continents, at least to contribute the contents of 
his volume towards the commencement of a structure which, out 
of the ruins of dilacerated human tribes, seeks materials for an 
union of the whole human race in one origin ; which some have 
disputed, notwithstanding the plain statement of the Bible on that 
subject, which is a book entitled to the term antiquity, paramount 
to all other records now in existence. 

"What this original and radical language was, has very lately 
been the subject of inquiry by the learned Mr. Mathieu, of Nancy, 
in France. The Chevalier Valentine, of the order of St. Michael, 
renewed by Louis XVII I., informs me that this gentleman has 
examined Mr. Winthrop's description of the curious characters 
inscribed upon the rock at Dighton, Massachusetts, as published 
in the transactions of the Boston Academy of Arts and Sciences. 
He thinks them hieroglyphics which he can interpret and explain, 
and ascribes them to the inhabitants of the ancient Atlantic island 
of Plato, called by him Atalantis. Mr. Mathieu not only professes 
to give the sense of the inscription, but also to prove that the 
tongues spoken by the Mexicans, Peruvians, and other occidental 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 213 

or western people, as well as the Greek itself, with all its dialects 
and ramifications, were but derivations from the language of the 
primitive Ataiantians of the island of Plato, 77 — of which we have 
before spoken in this work. 



The Atlantic Nations of America. 

The ocean separating Europe and Africa from America is yet 
called the Atlantic ocean — our littoral States are called the At- 
lantic States. The Atlantes of North Africa, who gave their 
name to the Atlas mountains, and whose descendants exist there 
as yet, under the names of Taurics, Berbers, Shelluh, Showiah, 
&c, were one of the primitive nations of both continents. They 
came to America soon after the flood, if not before, colonized and 
named the ocean, and the islands in it, as well as America, which 
was called the Great Atlantis, or rather Atala, meaning the first 
or main land. This name is preserved in Hindoo traditions. The 
Atlantes were not only the primitive colonists of America, but 
they were the most conspicuous and civilized. Their true name 
was Atalans. They may have been the founders of Otolum, and 
many other ancient cities here in North America. Their de- 
scendants exist to this day in America, under the names of 
Talas, or Tarascas, Atalalas, Matalans, Talegawis, Otalis, or 
Tsutukis,TalahuicaSyChontalas or Tsendalas, &c, from Carolina 
to Guatemala. 

When Columbus again discovered America, he and the earliest 
explorers were struck with the similarity between many American 
tribes and the Guanches of the Canary islands, remains of the 
Oceanic Atlantes, in features, manners and speech. Whether the 
Haytians, Cubans and Aruacs were genuine Atlantes,, is rather 
doubtful,?because their language is more akin to the Pelagic than 
the Atlantic. But three at least out of the twenty -five original 
nations of America above enumerated, may safely be deemed 
children of the Atlantes. They are the ninth or Otalis, the tenth 
or Atalans, and the fourteenth or Chontals. 



314 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

This could be proved in many ways, and by their languages 
compared with those of their African brethren, Taurics, Guanches, 
&c. after a separation of several thousand years. But the proofs 
would fill a volume. 

Our actual Cherokis, and akin tribes, are the children of the 
first branch, named Otalis : this was their original name. Adair, 
only one hundred years ago, says that the genuine or upland 
Cherokis were called Otalis, which name meant mountaineers, as 
in Africa. They call themselves now Tsulukis. Our name of 
Cherokis is derived from the word Chelakis, name of a tribe. — 
They have not the sound of r in their speech. Only one tribe 
substitutes r to I. The interesting history of this nation shall de- 
serve our attention hereafter. The Chontal branch or nation will 
come under notice in investigating the antiquities of Otolum, or 
Palenque. It remains here to survey the genuine branch of Ata- 
lans — eldest, perhaps, of the American Atlantes. Among this, the 
best known fand yet hardly known) are the Tarascas of Michua- 
can, in West Mexico, the brave nation that first asserted the late 
Mexican independence. Their true name is Tala, and Tala-s-ca, 
meaning Tala-self-ihe, or, in our idiom, the very self Tola. They 
have no r in their speech, and this name was changed by the 
Othmis and Mexicans into Tarascas. — ( See grammar of their lan- 
guage by Basalenque, Mexico, 17 14. ) 

From this interesting little work, some other account from Vater 
and the Spanish writers, we learn something of their language, 
which is yet spoken, and may be thoroughly studied. We also 
learn that they formed a powerful and civilized kingdom, inde- 
pendent of Mexico at the Spanish invasion, which became the ally 
of the Spaniards, but was by them subdued by treachery and in- 
famous conduct. But we learn very little of their previous histo- 
ry, and the little known is buried in untranslated Spanish books. 
It is by their language that we can hope to trace their origin and 
most remote history. Languages do not lie, says Home Tooke. 
They reveal what time has buried in oblivion. 

We have been struck with its evident analogy with the Atlantic, 
Coptic, Pelagic,Greek, Latin and Italian languages of Africa and 
Europe, both in words and structure, in spite of a separation of 
some thousand years. This language is rich, beautiful and highly 
complex. It amalgamates particles to modify words, as in the 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 315 

Italian: the verbs have fifteen modifications, as in Italian, or nearly 
so : they can be compounded, as in Greek. It admits of all the 
Greek rhetorical figures: the plural is formed by x. It has nearly 
all the European vocal sounds, except / and r ; also, no gn, and 
no 11, but it has three sibillant, ts, tz, and tzh. 

The analogies with the Italian are striking in the following 
phrases,, and some even appear with the Saxon English. 

English. Tala. Italian. 

1 Thou Thu Tu 

2 Was (wast) Esca Sei (fosti) 

3 Thou who Thuqui Tu che 

4 Spoke Vandahaca Favelasti 

English. Tala. Italian. 

1 Is not Noxas Non e 

2 So wise Mimixcti Amico (savio) 

3 As I Isqui hi Com'io 



English. 


Tala. Italian. 


1 I 


Hi lo 


2 Was 


Esca Sie (fui) 


3 I who 


Hiquinini lo che 


4 Loved 


Pamphzahaca Amai 



Primitive Origin of the English Language. 

BY C S. RAFINESQUE. 

The best work on the philosophy and affinities of the English 
language is at present, the introduction by Noah Webster, to his 
great dictionary; yet although he has taken enlarged views of the 
subject, and by far surpassed every predecessor, he has left much 
to do to those future philologists and philosophers who may be 
inclined to pursue the subject still farther : not having traced the 
English language to its primitive sources, nor through all its va- 
riations and anomalies. 

But no very speedy addition to this knowledge is likely to be 
produced, since Mr. Webster has stated, in a letter inserted in the 
Genesee Farmer, of March, 1832, (written to vindicate some of 
his improvements in orthography,) that no one has been found in 
America or England able to review his introduction ! although 
many have been applied to! But I was not one of those consulted, 
few knowing of my researches in languages — else I could have 
done ample justice to the subject, and to Mr. Webster. It is not now 
a review of his labors that I undertake, but merely an inquiry into 
the primitive origin of our language, extracted from my manu- 



316 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

script philosophy of the English, French and Italian languages, 
compared with all the other languages or dialects of the whole 
world, not less than 3000 in number. 

The modern English has really only one immediate parent: the 
old English, such as it was spoken and written in England, be- 
tween the years 1000 and 1500, lasting about five hundred years, 
which is the usual duration of fluctuating languages. Our actual 
English is a natural derivation or dialect of it, begun between 1475 
and 1525, and gradually improved and polished under two differ- 
ent forms, the written English and the spoken English, which 
are as different from each other as the English from the French. 
These two forms have received great accession by the increase of 
knowledge, and borrowing from many akin languages words un- 
known to the old English. They are both subject yet to the fluc- 
tuations of orthography and pronunciation, which gradually modify 
them again. 

The old English existed probably also under these two forms, 
and had several contemporaneous dialects, as the modern En- 
glish, of which the Yorkshire and Scotch dialects are the most 
striking in Europe ; while Guyana, Creole, and West India 
Creole are the most remarkable in America. Another dialect, 
filled with Bengali and Hindostani words, is also forming in the 
East Indies. 

A complete comparison of the old and modern English has not 
yet been given. A few striking examples will here be inserted 
as a specimen of disparity. 

Written. Written. ^Written. Written. 

Old English. Mod. English. Old English. Mod. English. 



Londe 


Lande 


See 


Sea 


Sterre 


Star 


Benethen 


Beneath 


Erthe 


Earth 


Hewyn 


Heaven 


Yle 


Island 


Hedde 


Head 



As late as the year 1555, we find the English language 
very different from the actual, at least in orthography. For in- 
stance: 



iff. of 1555. 


Writ. Mod. Eng. 


Eng. of 1555. 


Writ. Mod. Eng 


Preste 


Priest 


Fyer 


Fire 


Euyll 


Evil 


Howse 


House 


Youc 


You 







This old English is supposed to have sprung from the amalga- 
mation of three languages — British-Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 317 

Norman French, between the years 1000 and 1200. This has 
been well proved by many, and I take it for granted. 

But the successive parents and the genealogies of the Celtic, 
Saxon and Norman, are not so well understood, yet through their 
successive and gradual dialects springing from each other, are to 
be traced the anomalies and affinities of all the modern languages 
of western Europe. 

By this investigation it is found that these three parents of the 
English, instead of being remote and distinct languages, were 
themselves brothers, sprung from a common primitive source, 
having undergone fluctuations and changes every five hundred or 
one thousand years. For instance, the Latin of the time of Rom- 
ulus, was quite a different language from that spoken in the time 
of Augustus, although this was a child of the former — this of the 
Ausonian, &c. 

The following table will illustrate this fact, and the subsequent 
remarks prove it. 

/. Old English, sprung partly from the British- Celtic. 

2d step, British Celtic of Great Britain, sprung from the Celtic 
of West Europe. 

3d step, this Celtic from the Cumric or Kimran of Europe. 

4th step, the Cumric from the Gomerian of Western Asia. 

5th step, the Gomerian from the Yavana of Central Asia. 

6th step, the Yavana was a dialect of the Sanscrit. 

II. The Old English partly sprung from the Anglo-Saxon of 
Britain. 

2d step, the Anglo-Saxon sprung from Saxon or Sacacenas of 
Germany. 

3d step, the Saxon from the Teutonic or Gothic of Europe. 

4th step, the Teutonic from the Getic of East Europe. 

5th step, the Getic from the Tiras or Tharaca of West Asia — 
(Thracians of the Greeks.) 

6th step, the Tiras from the Cutic or Saca of Central Asia, call- 
ed Scythian by the Greeks. 

7th step, the Saca was a branch of the Sanscrit. 

III. Old English partly sprung from the Norman-French. 
2d step, the Norman French sprung from the Romanic of 
France. 



318 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

3d step, the Romanic from the Celtic, Teutonic, and Roman 
Latin. 

4th step, Roman Latin from the Latin of Romulus. 

5th step, the Latin from the Ausonian of Italy. 

6th step, the Ausonian from the Pelagic of Greece and West 
Asia. 

tfth step, the Pelagic from the Palangsha^ or Pali of Central 
Asia. 

8th step, the Pali was a branch of the Sanscrit. 

Thus we see all the sources of the English language concentra- 
ting by gradual steps into the Sanscrit, one of the oldest languages 
of Central Asia, which has spread its branches all over the globe; 
being the original language of that race of men, fathers of the 
Hindoos, Persians, Europeans and Polynesians. 

All the affinities between English and Sanscrit are direct and 
striking, notwithstanding many deviations, and the lapse of ages. 
While those between the English and other primitive languages, 
such as Chinese, Mongol, Arabic, Hebrew, Coptic, Berber, &c, 
are much less in number and importance, being probably derived 
from the natural primitive analogy of those languages with the 
Sanscrit itself, when all the languages in Asia were intimately 
connected. 

Many authors have studied and unfolded the English analogies 
with many languages ; but few if any have ever stated their nu- 
merical amount. Unless this is done we can never ascertain the 
relative amount of mutual affinities. My numerical rule af- 
fords a very easy mode to calculate this amount without much 
trouble. 

Thus, to find the amount of affinities between English and 
Latin, let us take ten important words at random in each. 

Writ. Eng. Latin. Writ. Eng. Latin. 

Woman Femina One Unum 

ti Water Aqua ttHouse Donius 

tEarth Terra tMoon Luna 

tGod Deus Star Aster 

ttSoul Anima ttGood Bonus 

We thereby find three affinities in ten, or 30 per cent.; as many 
analogies or semi-affinities, marked t, equal to 15 per cent, more; 
and four words, or 40 per cent., have no affinities. This will 
probably be found a fair average of the mutual rate in the old En- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 31$ 

glish, but the modern has received so many Latin synonyms as to 
exceed perhaps this rate. 

Of these analogies it is remarkable that most are not direct from 
the Latin, or even through the French, but are of Saxon origin, 
which had them with the Latin previously. " 

Thus the affinities between the English and Greek or Russian 
are derived through the Pelagic and Thracian, unless lately 
adopted. 

Boxhorn and Lipsius first noticed the great affinities of words 
and grammar between the Persian and German dialects; twenty- 
five German writers have written on this. But Weston, in a very 
rare work, printed in Calcutta., at 1816, on the conformity of the 
English and European languages with the Persian, has much en- 
larged the subject, and has given as many as four hundred and 
eighty consimilar words between Persian and Latin, Greek, En- 
glish, Gothic and Celtic, but he has not stated the numerical 
amount of these affinities. All this is not surprising, since the 
Iranians "or Persians were also a branch of Hindus, and this lan- 
guage a chiTd of the Zend, a dialect of the Sanscrit. Hammer 
has found as many as five hundred and sixty affinities between 
German and Persian. 

But the late work of Colonel Kennedy, " Researches on the 
Origin and Affinity of the principal Languages of Asia and Eu- 
rope," London, 1828, 4to, is the most important, as directly 
concerning this investigation, notwithstanding that he has ventured 
on several gratuitous assertions, and has many omissions of con- 
sequence. 

Kennedy states that the Sanscrit has 2500 verbal roots, but 
only 566 have distinct meanings, while each admitting of 25 suf- 
fixes, they form 60,000 words, and as they are susceptible of 958 
increments, as many as 1,395,000 words may be said to exist in 
this wonderful language. 

Yet out of these 2500 roots, as many as 900 are found by 
Kennedy in the Persian and European languages, although the 
Greek has only 2200 roots, and the Latin 2400. Of these 900 
affinities, 

330 are found in the Greek, 
319 in Latin, 
265 in Persian, 



320 



AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 



262 in German, 
251 in English, 
527 in Greek or Latin, 
181 in both German and English, 
31 in all the five languages. 

This is something positive and numerical, but unfortunately 
not definite and partly erroneous, as will be proved presently from 
the English. Kennedy denies affinities between the Celtic and 
Sanscrit, but the very words he has offered as examples, (only 
100) offer many evident affinities. His opinion that the Hindoos 
and Egyptians came from the Babylonians, is very improbable. — 
It was from the high table land of Central Asia, that all the old 
nations came. 

The 251 English affinities may be seen in Kennedy, as well as 
the 339 Latin,whichare mostly found now also in English through 
the words derived from the Latin. These two united would be 
590, or more already than the 566 separate meanings of the San- 
scrit roots; but Kennedy has by no means exhausted the Sanscrit 
etymologies of the English. Although I have no English Sanscrit 
dictionary at hand, yet I have many Sanscrit vocabularies, where 
I find many words omitted by Kennedy; and what is not found in 
the Sanscrit itself, is found in its eastern children, the modern 
languages of Hindoston. 

Among my vocabularies, the most important is one made by 
myself, of the principal words of the old Sanscrit, met with and 
explained in the laws of Menu, translated by Jones. In these old 
and often obsolete words are found the most striking affinities, of 
which I here give the greater part. 



English written. 


Old Sanscrit of Menu 


English, icritten. 


Old Scmscrit of Menu 


Mother 


Mara 


Beetle 


Blatta 


Mind 


Men 


Penny 


Pana 


Mankind 


Manavah 


Gas 


Akasa 


Era 


Antara 


Father 


Vasus 


Hour 


Hora 


Play 


Waya 


Virtuous 


Verta 


Malice (sin) 


Mala 


Antique 


Arti 


Patriarch 


Patri 


Middle 


Medhya 


Eyes 


Eshas 


Teacher 


A chary a 


Right 


Rita 


Bos (master) 


Bhos 


Phantom 


Vantasa 


Before 


Purva 


Wood 


Venu 


Wind 


Pavana 


Me, mine 


Man 


Deity 


Daitya 


Animate 


Mahat 


Mouth 


Muc'ha 


Spirit 


Eshetra 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 



321 



Being twenty-eight derivated words out of eighty-four of this 
old vocabulary, 33 per cent. 

Another very singular vocabulary I have extracted from the 
transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay, and Erskine's 
account of the ancient Mahabad religion of Balk, from the 
book Desatir. Some words are given there of the language of 
the Mahabad empire, the primitive Iran, which appears to be a 
very early dialect of the Sanscrit and Zend. Out of thirty 
words, twelve have analogies to the English — equal to forty per 
cent. 



English, written. 


Mahabad of Iran. 


English, written. 


Manhabad of Iran. 


Father 


Filer 


Middle 


Mad 


End 


Antan 


Sky 


Kes 


Coarse 


Kur (time) 


Royal 


Raka (king) 


Nigh 


Uniin 


Ignite 


Agai (fire) 


Amicably 


Mitr (friend) 


Man 


Minhush 


Globe 


Gul 


Donation 


Datisur 



I could here add at least 250 to the 251 of Kennedy, if it were 
not too tedious and long. But I can safely vouch that all the 566 
radical roots of peculiar meaning forming the base of the San- 
scrit, are to be found in the English roots, or if a few are lack- 
ing, it is merely owing to some having become obsolete, through 
the lapse of nearly 5000 years, when the Yavanas, Sacas, and 
Pallis separated from their Hindoo brethren, and the revolution 
of six or seven successive dialects formed by each, till they met 
again in the English. Kennedy has even some obsolete English 
and Scotch words, now out of use, which are derived from the 
Sanscrit. 

This inquiry is not merely useful to unfold the origin and rev- 
olutions ot our language ; but it applies more or less to all the 
languages of Europe, which were formed in a similar way, by 
dialects of former languages, since every dialect becomes a lan- 
guage whenever it is widely spread and cultivated by a polished 
nation: thus the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanic, 
and Valaquian are now become languages, with new dialects of 
their own, although they are in fact mere dialects of the Latin and 
Celtic 

The physical conformation and features of all the European 
and Hindoo n itions are well known to agree, and naturalists con- 
sider them as a common race. The historical traditions of these 

21 



322 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

nations confirm the philological and physical evidence. All the 
European nations came from the east or the west of the Imaus 
tahle land of Asia,the seat of the ancient Hindoo empires of Balk, 
Cashmir and Iran. The order of time in which the Asiatic na- 
tions entered Europe to colonize it was as follows : 

1. or most ancient. Esquas, or Oscans, or Iberians, or Can- 
tdbrians. 

2. Gomarians, or Cumras, or Celts, or Gaels. 

3. Getes, or Goths, or Scutans, or Scythians. 

4. Fins, or Laps, or Sames. 

5. Tiras, or Thracians, or Illyrians, or Slaves. 

6. Pallis, or Pelasgians, or Hellenes, or Greeks. 

The settlement in Europe of these last is so remote as to be in- 
volved in obscurity. But their geographical positions, traditions 
and languages prove their relative antiquity. The Greek lan- 
guage is one of those that has been most permanent, having last- 
ed 2500 years, from Homer's time to the Turkish conquest ; yet 
it sprung from the Pelagic, and has given birth to the Romanic or 
modern Greek dialects. 



Colonies of the Danes in America. 

But besides the evidences that the Malay, Australasian, and 
Polynesian tribes of the Pacific islands, have in remote ages peo- 
pled America from the west — coming first of all, from the Asiatic 
shores of that ocean, and also from the east, peopling the island 
Atalantis, (equally early, as we believe,) once situated between 
America and Europe, and from this to the continent ; yet there 
is another class of autiquities, or race of population, which, says 
Dr. Mitchell, deserves particularly to be noticed. " These are 
the emigrants from Lapland, Norway, and Finland in Europe, 
who, before the tenth century, settled themselves in Green- 
land, and passed over to Labrador. It is recorded that these ad- 
venturers settled themselves in a country which they called Vin- 
land." 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 323 

Our learned regent, Gov. De Witt Clinton, says Dr. Mitchell, 
who has outdone Governeur Colden, by writing the most full and 
able history of the Iroquois or Five Nations of New-York, men- 
tioned to me his belief that a part of the old forts and other anti- 
quities at Onondaga, about Auburn and the adjacent country, were 
of Danish character. " I was at once penetrated with the justice 
of his remark; an additional window of light was suddenly opened 
to my view on this subject. I perceived at once, with the Rev. 
Van Troil, that the European emigrants had passed, during the 
horrible commotions of the ninth and tenth century, to Iceland*" 
—(See History of England.) 

The Rev. Mr. Crantz had informed me, in his important book, 
how they went to Greenland. I thought I could trace the people 
of Scandinavia to the banks of the St. Lawrence ; I supposed my 
friends had seen the Punic inscriptions made by them here and 
there, in the places where they visited. Madoc, prince of Wales, 
and his Cambrian followers, appeared to my recollection among 
these bands of adventurers. A.nd thus the northern lands of North 
America were visited by the hyperborean tribes from the north- 
westermost climes of Europe, and the northwestern climes of 
North America had received inhabitants of the same race from 
the northeastern regions of Asia. 

The Danes, Fins or Germans and Welchmen, performing their 
migrations gradually to the southwest, seem to have penetrated to 
the country situated in the south of Lake Ontario, which would be 
in the Statos of New-York and Pennsylvania, and to have forti- 
fied themselves there; where the Tartars, or Samoieds, travelling 
by slow degrees from Alaska, on the Pacific, to the southeast, 
finally found them. 

In their course these Asian colonists probably exterminated the 
Malays who had penetrated along the Ohio and its streams, or 
drove them to caverns abounding in salt peter and copperas, in 
Kentucky and Tennessee ; where their bodies accompanied with 
cloths and ornaments of their peculiar manufacture, have been re- 
peatedly disinterred and examined by the members of the Ameri- 
can Antiquarian Society. Having achieved this conquest, the 
Tartars and their descendants had probably a much harder 
task to perform. This was to subdue the more ferocious and 
warlike Eupropeao colonists, who had intrenched and fortified 



324 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

themselves in the country, after the arrival of the Tartars, or In- 
dians as they are now called, in the particular parts they had set- 
tled themselves in, along the region of the Atlantic. In Pompey, 
Onondaga county, are the remains, qr outlines, of a town, includ- 
ing more than 500 acres. It appeared protected by three circular 
or eliptical forts, eight miles distant from each other ; placed in 
such relative positions as to form a triangle round about the own, 
at those distances. It is thought, from appearances, that this strong 
hold was stormed and taken on the line of the north side. In Ca- 
millus, in the same county, are the remains of two forts, one cov- 
ering about three acres, on a very high hill ; it had gateways, one 
opening to the east, and the other to the west, toward a spring, 
some rods from the works. Its shape is eliptical ; it has a wall, in 
some places ten feet high, with a deep ditch. Not far from this is 
another, exactly like it, only half as large. There are many of 
these ancient works hereabouts ; one in Scipio, two near Auburn, 
three near Canandaigua, and several between the Seneca and Cay- 
uga lakes. A number of such fortifications and burial places have 
also been discovered in Ridgeway, or the southern shore of lake 
Ontario. There is evidence enough that long and bloody wars 
were waged among the inhabitants, in which the Scandinavians, 
or Esquimaux as they are now called, seem to have been over- 
powered and destroyed in New York. The survivors of the de- 
feat and ruin retreated in Labrador, a country lying between Hud- 
son's bay and the Atlantic ; in latitude 5>> and 60 degrees north, 
where they have remained, secure from further pursuit. From 
the known ferocity of the ancient Scandinavians, who with other 
Europeans of ancient times we suppose to be the authors of the 
vast works about the region of Onondaga, dreadful wars with infi- 
nite butcheries, must have crimsoned every hill and dale of this 
now happy country. In corroboration of this opinion, we give the 
following, which is an extract from remarks made on the ancient 
customs of the Scandinavians, by Adam Clarke, in a volume en- 
titled Clarke's Discovery, p. 145. 

1st. Odin or Woden, their supreme god, is there termed the ter- 
rible or severe deity, the father of slaughter, who carries desola- 
tion and fire ; the tumultuous and roaring Deity ; the giver of 
courage and victory ; he who marks out who shall perish in bat- 
tle ; the shedder of the blood of man. From him is the fourth 
day of our week denominated Wodnesday, or Wednesday. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 325 

2d. Frigga or Frega: she was his consort, called also Ferorthe, 
mother earth. She was the goddess of love and debauchery — the 
northern Venus. She was also a warrior, and divided the souls 
of the slain with her husband Odin. From her we have our Fri- 
day, or Freya's day ; as on that day she was peculiarly worship- 
ped, as was Odin on Wednesday. 

3d. T/wr, the god of winds and tempests, thunder and lightning. 
He was the especial object of worship in Norway, Iceland, and 
consequently in the Zetland isles. From him we have the name 
of our fifth day, Thor's day, or Thursday. 

4th. TW, the god who protects houses. His day of worship 
was called Tyrsday, or Tiiesday, whence our Tuesday. As to our 
first and second day, Sunday and Monday, they derived their 
names from the sun and the moon, to whose worship ancient idola- 
ters had consecrated them. From this we learn that they had a 
knowledge of a small cycle of time, called a week, of seven days 
and must have been derived in some way from the ancient Hebrew 
Scriptures, as here we have the first intimation of this division of 
time. But among the Mexicans no trait of a cycle of seven days 
is found, says Humboldt ; which we consider an additional evi- 
dence that the first people who found their way to these regions, 
called North and South America, left Asia at a period anterior at 
least to the time of Moses ; which was about 1600 years before 
Christ. But we continue the quotation, "all who die in battle go 
to Vallpalla, Odin's palace, where they amuse themselves by go- 
ing through their martial exercises ; then cutting each other to 
pieces ; afterwards all the parts healing they sit down to their 
feasts, where they quaff beer out of the sculls of those whom they 
had slain in battle, and whose blood they had before drank out of 
the same skulls, when they had slain them. The Scandinavians 
offered different kinds of sacrifices, but especially human ; and 
from these they drew their auguries, by the velocity with which 
the blood flowed when they cut their throats, and from the appear- 
ance of the intestines, and especially the heart. It was a custom 
in Denmark to offer annually, in January, a sacrifice of ninety- 
nine cocks, ninety-nine dogs, ninety-nine horses, and ninety-nine 
men ; besides other human sacrifices," on various occasions. Such 
being the fact, it is fairly presumable that as the Danes, Scandi- 
navians, and Lapponiac nations, found their way from the north 



326 AxMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

of Europe to Iceland, Greenland and Labrador ; and from thence 
about the regions of the western lakes, especially Ontario ; that 
the terrific worship of the Celtic gods, has been practised in Amer- 
ica, at least in the state of New York. And it is not impossible 
but this custom may have pervaded the whole continent, for the 
name of one of these very gods namely Odin, is found among the 
South Americans^ and the tops of the pyramids may have been the 
altars of sacrifice. "We have already fixed the attention of the 
reader," says Baron Humboldt, "on Votan or Wodan, an Ameri- 
can who seems to be a member of the same family with the Woads 
or Odins, of the Goths, and nations of the Celtic origin." The 
same names, he says, are celebrated in India, Scandinavia, and 
Mexico, all of which is, by tradition, believed to point to none oth- 
er than to Noah and his sons. For, according to the traditions 
of the Mexicans, as collected by Bishop Francis Nunez de la Ve- 
ga, their Wodan was grandson to that illustrious old man, who at 
the time of the great deluge, was saved on a raft, with his family, 
he was also at the building of the great edifice, and co-operated 
with the builder, which had been undertaken by men to reach the 
skies. The execution of this rash project was interrupted ; each 
family receiving from that time a different language ; when the 
Great Spirit, or Teatl, ordered Wodan to go and people the con- 
try of Anahuac, which is in America. Think, (says Dr. Mitch- 
ill,) what a memorable spot is our Onondaga, where men of 
the Malay race,, from the southwest, and of the Tartar blood from 
the northwest, and of the Gothic stock from the northeast, have 
successfully contended for the supremacy and rule, and which 
may be considered as having been possessed by each long enough 
before" Columbus was born, or the navigating of the western ocean 
thought of by Europeans. "John de Laet, a Flemish writer, says 
that Modoc, one of the sons of Prince Owen Gynnith, being dis- 
gusted with the civil wars which broke out between his brothers, 
after the death of their father, fitted out several vessels, and hav- 
ing provided them with every thing necessary for a long voyage, 
went in quest of new lands to the westward of Ireland. There he 
discovered very fertile countries," where he settled ; and it is ve- 
ry probable Onondaga, and the country along the St. Lawrence, 
and around lakes Ontario and Erie were the regions of their im- 
provements. — (Carver, p. 108.) We learn from the historian 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 



327 



Charlevoix, that the Eries, an indigenous nation of the Malay race, 
who formerly inhabited the lands south of Lake Erie, where the 
western district of Pennsylvania and the state of Ohio now are. — 
And Lewis Evans, a former resident of the city of New York< has 
shown us in his map of the Middle Colonies, that the hunting 
grounds of the Iroquois extended over that very region. The Iro- 
quois were of the Tartar stock, and they converted the country of 
the exterminated Eries or Malays into a range for the wild beasts 
of the west, and a region for their own hunters." He says the 
Scandinavians emigrated about the tenth century of the Christian 
era, if not earlier; and that they may be considered as not only 
having discovered this continent, but to have explored its northern 
climes to a great extent, and also to have people them. In the 
fourteenth township; fourth range of the Holland Company's lands 
in the state of New-York, near the Ridge road leading from Buf 
falo to Niagara falls, is an ancient fort, situated in a large swamp; 
it covers about five acres of ground ; large trees are standing upon 
it. The earth which forms this fort was evidently brought from 
a distance, as that the soil of the marsh is quite of another kind, 
wet and miry, while the site of the fort is dry gravel and lome. 

The site of this fortification is singular, unless we suppose it to 
have been a last resort or hiding place from an enemy. The dis- 
tance to the margin of the marsh is about half a mile, where large 
quantities of human bones have been found, on opening the earth, 
of an extraordinary size : the thigh bones, about two inches 
longer than a common sized man's : the jaw or chin bone will 
cover a large man's face : the skull bones are of an enormous 
thickness : the breast and hip bones are also very large. On being 
exposed to the air they soon moulder away, which denotes the 
great length of time since their interment. The disorderly man- 
ner in which these bones were found to lie, being crosswise, com- 
mixed and mingled with every trait of confusion, show them to 
have been deposited by a conquering enemy, and not by friends, 
who would have laid them, as the custom of all nations always has 
been in a more deferential mode. There was no appearance of a 
bullet having been the instrument of their destruction,, the evidence 
of which would have been broken limbs. Smaller works of the 
same kind abound in the country about lake Ontario, but the one 
of which we have just spoken is the most remarkable. This work, 



328 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

it is likely, was a last effort of the Scandinavians. North of the 
mountain, or great slope toward the lake, there are no remains of 
ancient works or tumuli, which strongly argues, that.the mountain 
or ridgeway once was the southern boundary or shore of lake Onta- 
rio : the waters having receded from three to seven miles from its 
ancient shore, nearly the whole length of the lake, occasioned by 
some strange convulsion in nature, redeeming much of the lands of 
the west from the water that had covered it from the time of the del- 
uge. The following is the opinion of Morse, the geographer, on 
the curious subject of the original inhabitants or population of 
America. He says, "without detailing the numerous opinions of 
philosophers, respecting the original population of this continent, 
he will, in few words, state the result of his own inquiries on the 
subject, and the facts from which the result is deduced. "The 
Greenlanders and Esquimaux, 7 ' which are one in origin, "were 
emigrants from the northwest of Europe," which is Norway and 
Lapland. A colony of Norwegians was planted in Iceland, in 
874, which is almost a thousand years ago. Greenland, which is 
separated from the American continent only by Davis' strait,which 
in several places, is of no great width, was settled by Eric Rufus, 
a young Norwegian, in 982 ; and before the 11th century, chur- 
ches were founded and a bishopric erected at Grade, the capital of 
the settlement. Soon after this, Bairn, an Icelandic navigator, 
by accident, discovered land to the west of Greenland. This land 
received the name of Vineland. It was settled by a colony of 
Norwegians in 1002, and from the description given of its situa- 
tion and productions, must have been Labrador, which is on the 
American continent or Newfoundland, which is but a little way 
from the continent, separated by the narrow strait of Bellisle, at 
the north end of the gulf of St. Lawrence, a river of Canada. — 
Vineland was west of Greenland, and not very far to the south of 
it. It also produced grape vines spontaneously. Mr. Elis, in his 
voyage to Hudson's bay, informs us that the vine grows spontane- 
ously at Labrador, and compares the fruit of it to the currants of 
the Levant. Several missionaires of the Moravians, prompted 
by a zeal for propagating Christianity, settled in Greenland ; from 
whom we learn that the Esquimaux perfectly resemble the natives 
of the two countries, and have intercourse with one another ; that 
a few sailors, who had acquired the knowledge of a {ew Greenland 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 329 

words, reported, that these were understood by the Esquimaux ; 
that at length a Moravian missionary, well acquainted with the 
language of Greenland, having visited the country of the Esqui- 
maux, found to his astonishment that they spoke the same lan- 
guage with the Greenlanders ;" which of course was the same with 
the language of Iceland, and also of Norway, which is in Europe, 
lying along on the coast of the Atlantic ; as that the first colony of 
Iceland was from Norway, and from Iceland a first colony settled in 
Greenland, from thence to Labrador,which is the continent ; show- 
ing that the language of the Esquimaux is that of the ancient Norse 
of Europe, derived from the more ancient Celtic nations, who were 
derived from the descendants of Japheth, the son of Noah ; from 
which we perceive that both from country and lineal descent, the 
present inhabitants are brothers to the Esquimaux (Indians, as 
they are improperly called) who also are white and not copper col- 
ored, like the red men, or common Indians who are of the Tartar 
stock. The missionary found, "that there was abundant evidence 
of their being of the same race, and he was accordingly received 
and entertained by them as a friend and brother." These facts 
prove the settlement of Greenland by an Icelandic colony, and the 
consanguinity of the Greenlanders and Esquimaux. Iceland is 
only about one thousand miles west from Norway, in Europe, 
with more than twenty islands between ; so that there is no diffi- 
culty in the way of this history to render it improbable that the 
early navigators from Norway may have easily found Iceland, 
and colonized it. "The enterprise, skill in navigation, even with- 
out the compass, and roving habits, possessed by these early nav- 
igators, renders it highly probable also, that at some period more 
remote than the 10th century, they had pursued the same route to 
Greenland, and planted colonies there, which is but six hundred 
miles west of Iceland. Their descendants the present Greenland- 
ers and Esquimaux, retaining somewhat of the enterprise of their 
ancestors, have always preserved a communication with each oth- 
er, by crossing and recrossing Davis's strait. The distance of 
ocean between America and Europe on the east, or America and 
China on the west, is no objection to the passage of navigators, 
either from design or stress of weather ; as that Coxe, in his Rus- 
sian Discoveries, mentions that several Kamschadale vessels, in 
1745, were driven out to sea, and forced, by stress of weather, to 
take shelter among the Aleutian islands, in the Pacific, a distance 



330 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

of several hundred miles ; and also Captain Cook, in one of his 
voyages., found some natives of one of the islands of the same 
ocean, in their war canoes, six hundred miles from land." — 
(Morse.) 

In the year 1789, Captain Bligh was sent out under the direc- 
tion of the government of England to the Friendly islands, in the 
Pacific, in quest of the bread fruit plant, with the view of plant- 
ing it in the West Indies. But having got into the Pacific ocean, 
his crew mutinied, and put him, with eighteen of his men, on 
board of a boat of but thirty-two feet in length, with one hundred 
and fifty pounds of bread, twenty-eight gallons of water/ twenty 
pounds of pork, three bottles of wine, and fifteen quarts of rum. 
With this scanty provision he was turned adrift in the open sea, 
when the vessel sailed, and left them to their fate. Capt. Bligh 
then sailed for the island of Tofoa, but being resisted by the isl- 
anders with stones, and threatened with death, was compelled to 
steer from mere recollection, (for he was acquainted with those 
parts of that ocean) for a port in the East Indies called'Tima, be- 
longing to the Dutch. He had been with the noted Captain Cook, 
in his voyages. The reason the natives pelted them with stones, 
as they attempted to land, was because they perceived them to be 
without arms. This voyage, however, they performed in forty- 
six days, suffering in a most incredible manner, a distance of four 
thousand miles, losing but one man, who was killed by the stones 
of the savages, in attempting to get clear from the shore of an 
island, where they had landed to look for water. 

" In 1797, the slaves of a ship from the coast of Africa, hav- 
ing risen on the crew, twelve of the latter leaped into a boat, and 
made their escape. On the thirty-eighth day, three still survived, 
and drifted ashore at Barbadoes, in the West Indies.. In 1799, 
six men in a boat from St. Helena lost their course, and nearly a 
month after, five of them surviving, reached the coast of South 
America, a distance of two thousand seven hundred and sixty 
miles."— Thomas 7 Travels, p. 283.) 

If we consider in what an early age navigation was practised, 
and consequently how soon after that era America would receive 
inhabitants within its torrid zone, it will appear probable that the 
Mexicans were a great nation before either the Tartars or Esqui- 
maux arrived on the northern part of this continent. Navigation 
was indeed commenced at an early age, by the Egyptians and 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 331 

Phoenicians, probably more than 1600 years before the time of 
Christ, ( See Morse's Chronology,) and doubtless, from time to 
time, as in later ages, arrivals, either from design or from being 
driven to sea by storm, took place, so that Egyptians, Phoenicians 
and individuals of other nations of that age unquestionably found 
their way to South America, and also to the southern parts of 
of North America, from the east, and also from the west, across 
the Pacific, in shipping. 

But we entertain the opinion that even sooner than this, the 
woods of the Americas had received inhabitants, as we have be- 
fore endeavored to show in this work, at a time when there was 
more land, either in the form of islands in groups, or in bodies, 
approaching to that of continents, situated both in the Pacific and 
Atlantic oceans : but especially that of Atalantis, once in the 
Atlantic between America and the coast of Gibraltar. 

In the remarks of Carver on this subject, through the interior 
parts of Northwestern America, we have the following : " Many 
of the ancients are supposed to have known that this quarter of 
the globe not only existed, but also that it was inhabited. 7 ' Plato, 
who wrote about 500 B. C, in his book entitled Timaeus, has as- 
serted that beyond the island which he calls Atalantis, as learned 
from the Egyptian priests, and which according to his description 
was situated in the Western ocean, opposite, as we have before 
said, to the strait of Gibraltar, there were a great number of other 
islands, and behind those a vast continent. 

If some have affected to treat the tradition of the existence of 
this island as a chimera, we would ask, how should the priests be 
able to tell us that behind that island, farther west, was a vast con- 
tinent, which proves to be true, for that continent is America; or 
rather, as a continent is spoken of by Plato at all, lying west of 
Europe, we are of the opinion that this fact should carry convic- 
tion that the island also existed, as well as the continent — and 
why not Atalantis ? If Plato knew of the one, did he not of the 
other % 

If the Egyptian priests had told Plato that anciently there ex- 
isted a certain island, with a continent on the west of it, and the 
strait of Gibraltar on the east of it, and it was found in succeeding 
ages that neither the strait nor the continent were ever known to 
exist, it would be, indeed, clearly inferred, that neither was the 



332 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

island known to them. But as the strait does exist, and the wes- 
tern continent also, is it very absurd to suppose that Atalantis was 
indeed situated between these two facts, or parts of the earth now 
known to all the world ? 

Carver says that Oviedo, a celebrated Spanish author, the same 
who became the friend of Columbus, whom he accompanied on 
his second voyage to the new world, has made no scruple to af- 
firm that the Antilles are the famous Hespe rides, so often men- 
tioned by the poets, which are at length restored to the king of 
Spain, the descendants of king Hesperus, who lived upwards of 
three thousand years ago, and from whom these islands received 
their name. 

De Laet, a Flemish writer, says it is related by Pliny the elder, 
one of the most learned of the ancient Roman writers, who was 
born twenty-three years after the time of Christ, and left behind 
him no less than thirty-seven volumes on natural history, and 
some other writers, that on many of the islands on the western 
coast of Africa, particularly on the Canaries, some ancient edi- 
fices were seen, even called ancient by Pliny, a term which would 
throw the time of their erection back to a period perhaps five or 
six hundred years before Christ. " From this it is highly proba- 
ble, 77 says Mr. Carver, "that the inhabitants having deserted those 
edifices, even in the time of Pliny, may have passed over to South 
America, the passage being neither long nor difficult. This mi- 
gration, according to the calculation of those authors, must have 
taken place more than 200 years before the Christian era, at a 
time when the people of Spain were much troubled by the Car- 
thaginians, and might have retired to the Antilles, by the way of 
the western isles, which were exactly half way in their voyage to 
South America " 

Emanuel de Morez, a Portuguese, in his History of Brazil, a 
province of South America, asserts that America has been wholly 
peopled by the Carthaginians and Israelites. He brings, as a 
proof of this assertion, the discoveries the former are known to 
have made at a great distance beyond the western coast of Africa; 
the farther progress of which being put a stop to by the Senate of 
Carthage, some hundred years before Christ, those who happened 
to be then in the newly discovered countries, being cut off from 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 333 

all communications with their countrymen, and destitute of many- 
necessaries of life,, fell into a state of barbarism. 

George de Horn, a learned Dutchman, who has written on the 
subject of the first peopling of America, maintains that the first 
founders of the colonics of this country were Scythians, who were 
much more ancient than the Tartars, but were derived from the 
Scythians, as the term Tartar is but of recent date when compared 
with the far more ancient appellation of Scythian, the descendants 
of Shem, the great progenitor of the Jews. He also believes that 
the Phoenicians and Carthaginians afterwards got footing in Ame- 
rica, by crossing the Atlantic, and likewise the Chinese, by way 
of the Pacific. These Phoenician and Carthaginian migrations he 
supposes to have been before the time of Solomon, king of Israel, 
who flourished 1000 years before Christ. 

Mr. Thomas of Auburn, in his volume entitled Travels through 
the Western Country, has devoted some twenty pages to the sub- 
ject of the ancient inhabitants of America, with ability evidencing 
an enlarged degree of acquaintance with it. He says explicitly, 
on p'ge 288, that " the Phoenicians were early acquainted with 
those shores ;" believes " that vessels sailing out of the Mediter- 
ranean may have been wrecked on the American shores; also, 
colonies from the west of Europe and from Africa, in the same 
way. Supposes that Egyptians and Syrians settled in Mexico — 
the former the authors of the pyramids of South America, and 
that the Syrians are ihe same with the Jews — warning nothing to 
complete this fact but the rite of circumcision. Says the Greeks 
were the only or first people who practised raising tumuli around 
the urns which contained the ashes of their heroes." 

And, as we know, tumuli are in abundance in the west, raised 
over the ashes, as we suppose, of their heroes, should we not in- 
fer that the practise was borrowed from that people? This would 
prove some of them, at least, originally from about the Mediter- 
ranean. 

But notwithstanding our agreement with this writer, that many 
nations, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Syrians, the Phoenicians, 
Carthaginians, Europeans, Romans, Asiatics, Scythians and Tar- 
tars have, in different eras of time, contributed to the peopling 
of America; yet we believe, with the celebrated naturalist, Dr. 
Mitchell, that the ancestors of the people known by the appella- 



334 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

tion of the Malays, now peopling the islands of the Pacific, were 
nearly among the first who set foot on the coasts of America. — 
And that the people who settled in the islands of the Atlantic, and 
especially that of Atalantis, now no more, immediately after the 
disperson, were they who, first of all, and the Malay second, fill- 
ed all America with their descendants in the first ages. But in 
process of time, as the arts came on, navigation, with or without 
the compass, was practised, if not systematically as at the present 
time, yet with nearly as wide a range; and as convulsions in the 
earth, such as divided one part of it from another, as in the days 
of Peleg^ removing islands, changing the shape of continents, and 
separating the inhabitants of distant places from each other, by 
destroying the land or islands between, so that when shipping, 
whether large or small, as in the time of the Phoenicians and Ty- 
rians of king Solomon, the Greeks and Romans came to navigate 
the seas, America was found, visited and colonized anew. In this 
way we account for the introduction of the arts among the more 
ancient inhabitants whom they found there, which arts are clearly 
spoken of in the traditions of the Mexicans, who tell us of white 
and bearded men, as related by Humboldt, who came from the 
sun, (as they supposed the Spaniards did,) changed or reduced 
the wandering millions of the woods to order and government, 
introduced among them the art of agriculture — a knowledge of 
metals, with that of architecture ; so that when Columbus dis- 
covered America, it was filled with cities, towns, cultivated fields 
and countries ; palaces, aqueducts and roads, and highways of 
the nations, equal with if not exceeding, in some respects, even 
the people of the Roman countries before the time of Christ. But 
as learning and a knowledge of the shape of the earth, in the times 
of the nations we have spoken of above, was not in general use 
among men; and from incessant wars and revolutions of nations, 
what discoveries may have been made were lost to mankind — so 
that some of the very countries once known have in later ages been 
discovered over again. 

We will- produce one instance of a discovery which has been 
lost — the land of Ophir, where the Tyrian fleets went for gold, in 
the days of Solomon. Where is it % The most learned do not 
know — cannot agree : it is lost as to identity. Some thihk it in 
Africa ; some in the islands of the South Atlantic, and some in 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 335 

South America; and although it is, wherever it may be, undoubt- 
edly an inhabited country, yet as to certainty about its location, it 
is unknown. 



Ancient Chronology of the Onguys or Iroquois Indians. 

BY DAVID CUSICK. 

In the traditions of the Tuscaroras, published by Cusick, in 
1827, few dates are found, but these few are, nevertheless, pre- 
cious for histoiy. 

A small volume has been printed this year by the Sunday 
School Union, on the history of the Delaware and Iroquois In- 
dians, in which their joint traditions are totally neglected, as usual 
with our actual book makers. Although Cusick's dates may be 
vague and doubtful, they deserve attention, and they shall be no- 
ticed here. 

Anterior to any date, the Eagwehoewe, (pronouoced Yaguylio- 
huy) meaning real people, dwelt north of the lakes, and formed 
only one nation. After many years, a body of them settled on 
the river Kanawag, now the St. Lawrence, and after a long time 
a foreign people came by sea, and settled south of the lake. 

1st date. Towards 2500 winters before Columbus' discovery of 
America, or 100S years before our era, total overthrow of the 
Towancas, nations of giants come from the north, by the king of 
the Onguys, Donhtonha, and the hero Yatatan. • 

2d. Three hundred winters after, or 708 before our era, the 
northern nations form a confederacy, appoint a king, who goes 
to visit the great emperor of the Golden city, south of the lakes : 
but afterwards quarrels arise, and a war of 100 years with this 
empire of the south, long civil wars in the north, &c. A body of 
people escaped in the mountain of Oswego,, &c. 

3. 1500 years before Columbus, or in the year 8 of our era, 
Tarenyawagon, the first legislator, leads his people out of the 
mountains to the river Yenonatateh, (now Mohawk,) where six 
tribes form an alliance called the Long-house, Agoneaseah — af- 



336 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

terwards reduced to five, the sixth spreading west and south. The 
Kautanoh, since Tuscarora, came from this. Some went as far 
as the Onauweyoka, now Mississippi. 

4th. In 108, the Konearawyeneh, or Flying Heads, invade the 
Five Nations. 

5th. In 242, the Shakanahih, or Stone Giants, a branch of the 
western tribe, become cannibals, return and desolate the country; 
but they are overthrown and driven north, by Tarenyawagon II. 
. 6th. Towards 350, Tarenyawagon III. defeats other foes, call- 
ed Snakes. 

7th. In 492, Atoarho I., king of the Onondagas, quells civil 
wars, begins a dynasty ruling over all the Five Nations, till Ato- 
tarho IX., who ruled yet in 1142. Events are since referred to 
their reigns. 

8th. Under Atotarho II., a Tarenyawagon IV., appears to help 
him to destroy Oyalk-guhoer, or the Big Bear. 

9th. Under Atotarho III., a tyrant, Sohnanrowah, arises on 
the Kaunaseh, now Susquehannah river, which makes war on 
the Sahwanug. 

10th. In 602, under Atotarho IV., the Towancas, now Missis- 
saugers, cede to the Senecas the lands east of the river Niagara, 
who settle on it. 

11th. Under Atotarho V., war between the Senecas and Ola- 
wahs of Sandusky. 

12th. Towards 852, under Atotarho VI., the Senecas reach the 
Ohio river, compel the Otawahs to sue for peace. 

13th. Atotarho VII. sent embassies to the west; the Kentakeh 
nation dwelt south of the Ohio, the Chipiwas on the Mississippi. 

14th. Towards 1042, under Atotarho VI II., war with the To- 
wancas, and a foreign stranger visits the Tuscaroras of Neuse 
river, who are divided into three tribes, and at war with the Nan- 
ticokes and Totalis. 

15th. In 1143, under Atotarho IX., first civil war between the 
Erians of Lake Erie, sprung from the Senecas, and the Five Na- 
tions. Here end these traditions. 

C. S. RAFINESQUE. 

The foregoing is a curious trait of the ancient history of the 
wars and revolutions which have transpired in America. It would 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 337 

appear that at the time of the overthrow of the Tawancas, 1008 
years before Christ, called in the tradition a nation of giants, that 
it was about the time the temple of Solomon was finfshed, show- 
ing clearly that as they had become powerful in this country,they 
had settled here at a very early period, probably about the time 
of Abraham, within three hundred and forty years of the flood. 
The hero who conquered them was called Yatatan, king of the 
Onguys — names which refer them, as to origin, to the ancient 
Scythians of Asia. 

Three hundred winters after this, or 708 years before Christ, 
about the time of the commencement of the Roman empire, by 
Romulus, the northern nations form a grand confederacy, and 
appoint a king, who went on a visit to the great emperor of the 
Golden city, south of the western lakes. 

Were we to conjecture where this golden city was situated, we 
should say on the Mississippi, where the Missouri forms a junction 
with that river, at or near St. Louis, as at this place and around 
its precincts are the remains of an immense population. This is 
likely the city to which the seven persons who were cast away on 
the island Estotiland, as before related, we re carried to ; being far 
to the southward from that island, supposed to be Newfoundland, 
— St. Louis being in that direction. This visit of Yatatan to the 
Golden city, it appears, was the occasion of a civil war of one 
hundred years, which ended in the ruin of the Golden city. A 
body of the citizens escaping, fled far to the east, and hid them- 
selves m the mountains of Oswego, along the southern shores of 
lake Ontario, where they remained about seven hundred years, 
till a great leader arose among them, called Tarenyawagon, who 
led them to settle dn the Mohawk; this was eight years after the 
birth of Christ. These refugees from the Golden city, had now 
multiplied so that they had become several nations, whence the 
grand confederacy of the six nations was formed. Upon these, a 
nation called Flying Heads made war, but were unsuccessful ; 
also, in 242 years after Christ, a nation called Stone Giants, 
made an attempt to distroy them but failed. They were successful 
in other wars against the Snake Indians, a more western tribe. 

About the time of the commencement of Mahomet's career, in 
602, a great tyrant arose on the Susquehannah river, who waged 
war with surrounding nations, from which it appears, that while 

22 



338 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

in Africa, Europe and Asia, revolution succeeded revolution, em- 
pires rising on the ruins of empires, that in America the same 
scenes were acting on as great a scale ; cultivated regions, pop- 
ulous cities and towns, were reduced to a wilderness, as in the 
other continents. 



A Tradition. 



" In support of the doctrine that the three sons of Noah were 
red, black and white, we bring the tradition of the Marabous, the 
priests of the most ancient race of Africans, which says that after 
the death of Noah, his three sons, one of whom was white, the 
second tawny or red, the third black, agreed to divide his pro- 
perty fairly ; which consisted of gold and silver, vestments of 
silk, linen and wool, horses, cattle, camels, dromedaries, sheep 
and goats, arms, furniture, corn and other provisions, besides to- 
bacco and pipes. 

"Having spent the greater part of the day in assorting these 
different things, the three sons were obliged to defer the parti- 
tion of the goods till the next morning. They therefore smoked 
a friendly pipe together, and then retired to rest, each in his own 
tent. 

" After some hours sleep, the white brother awoke before the 
other two, being moved by avarice, arose and seized the gold and 
silver, together with the precious stones and most beauti ul vest- 
ments, and having loaded the best camels with them, pursued his 
way to that country which his white posterity have ever since 
inhabited. 

" The Moor, or tawny brother, awaking soon afterwards, with 
the same intentions, and being surprised that he had been antici- 
pated by his white brother, secured in great haste the remainder 
of the horses, oxen and camels, and retired to another part of 
the world, leaving only some coarse vestments of cotton, pipes 
and tobacco, millet, rice, and a few other things of but small 
value. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 389 

" The last lot of stuff fell to the share of the black son, the 
laziest of the three brothers, who took up his pipe with a melan- 
choly air, and while he sat smoking in a pensive mood, swore 
to be revenged." — (AnquetiVs Universal History, vol. 6, p. 117, 
118.) 

We have inserted this tradition, not because we think it cir- 
cumstantially true, with respect to the goods, &c, but because we 
find in it this one important trait, viz : the origin of human com- 
plexions, in the family of Noah ; and if the tradition is supposed 
altogether a fiction, we would ask, how came these Africans, the 
most degraded and ignorant of the human race, by so important 
a trait of ancient history — as that such a man, with three sons, 
ever existed, from whom the three races were descended, if it 
were not so ? and that they were of three different complexions ? 



Disappearance of many Ancient Lakes of the West, and of 
the Formation of Seacoal 

This description of American antiquities is more captivating 
than the accounts already given, because, to know that the mil- 
lions of mankind, with their multifarious works, covering the 
vales of all our rivers, many of which were once the bottoms of 
immense lakes, and where the tops of the tallest forests peer to 
the skies, or where the towering spires of many a Christian tem- 
ple makes giad the heart of civilized man, and where the smoking 
chimnies of his wide spread habitations now are, — once sported 
the lake serpent, and the finny tribes, as birds passing in scaly 
waves along the horizon. 

We look to the soil where grazed the peaceful flock, — to the 
fields where wave a thousand harvests — to the air above, where 
play the wings of innumerable fowls, and to the road, where the 
sound of passing wheels denotes the course of men, and say, can 
this be so? Was all this space once the home of the waves? — 
Where eels and shell fish once congregated in their louses of 
mud, is now fixed the foundation of many a stately mansion, the 



340 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

dwelling of man. Such the mutation of matter, and the change 
of habitation. 

We forbear to ramble farther in this field of fancy,which opens 
before us with such immensity of prospect, to give an account of 
the disappearance of lakes supposed to have existed in the west. 
To do this, we shall avail ourselves of the opinions of several dis- 
tinguished authors, as Volney, in his travels in America ; School- 
craft, in his travels in the central parts of the valley of the Missis- 
aippi, and Professor Beck, in his Gazetteer of Illinois and Mis- 
souri, &c. 

We commence with the gifted and highly classical writer, C. 
F. Volney; who, although we do not subscribe to his notions of 
theology, yet as a naturalist we esteem him of the highest class, 
and his statements, with his deductions, to be worthy of attention. 
He commences by saying, that in the structure of the mountains 
of the United States, exists a fact more strikingly apparent than in 
any other part of the world, which must singularly have increased 
the action, and varied the movements of the waters. If we atten- 
tively examine the land, or even the maps of this country, we must 
perceive that the principal chains or ridges of the Alleghanies, 
Blue Ridge, &c, all run in a transverse or cross direction to the 
course of all the great rivers, and that these rivers have been 
forced to rupture their mounds or barriers, and break through these 
ridges, in order to make their way to the sea, from the bosoms of 
the valleys. 

This is evident in the Potomac, Susquehannah, Delaware and 
James rivers, and others, where they issue from the confines of 
the mountains, to enter the lower country. 

But the example which most attracted his attention on the spot, 
was that of the Potomac, three miles below the mouth of the She- 
nandoa. He was coming from Fredericktown, about twenty miles 
distant, and travelling from the southeast towards the northwest, 
through a woody country, with gentle ascents and descents; after 
he had crossed one ridge, pretty distinctly marked, though by no 
means steep, he began to see before him, eleven or twelve miles 
westward, the chain of the Blue Ridge, resembling a lofty ram- 
part, covered with forests, and having a breach through it from 
top to bottom. 

He again descended into the undulating wood country, which 



AND DISCOVERIES IN' THE WEST. 34 

separated him from it; and at length on approaching it, he found 
himself at the foot of this great mountainous rampart, which he 
had to cross, and ascertained to be about 350 yards high, or 120 
rods, (nearly half a mile) deep. 

On emerging from the wood, he had a full view of this tremen- 
dous breach, which he judged to be about 1200 yards wide, or 
225 rods, which is about three-fourths of a mile. Through the 
bottom of this breach ran the Potomac, leaving on its left a pas- 
sable bank or slope, and on the right washing the foot of the 
breach. On both sides of the chasm,, from top to bottom, many 
trees were then growing among the rocks, and in part concealed 
the place of the rupture. But about two-thirds of the way up, on 
the right side of the river, a large perpendicular space remains 
quite bare, and displays plainly the traces and scars of the ancient 
land, or natural wall, which once dammed up this river, formed 
of grey quartz, which the victorious river has overthrown, rolling 
its fragments a considerable distance down its course. Some large 
blocks that havo resisted its force, still remain as testimonials of 
the convulsion. 

The bed of this river at this place is rugged, with fixed rocks, 
which are, however, gradually wearing away. Its rapid waters 
boil and foam through these obstacles, which, for a distance of 
two miles form very dangerous falls or rapids. From the heigh 
of the mountain on each side of the river, and from attending cir 
cumstances, the rapids below the gap and the narrows, for severa 
miles above the immediate place of rupture, are sufficient evidence 
that at this place was originally a* mountain dam to the river, 
consequently a lake above must have been the effect, with falls oi 
the most magnificent description, which had thundered in theii 
descent from the time of Noah's flood, till the rupture of the ridge 
took place. 

At the end of three miles, he came to the confluence of the 
river Shenandoa, which issued out suddenly from the steep moun- 
tain of the Blue ridge. This river is but about one third as wide 
as the Potomac ; having, like that river, also broken through a 
part of the same ridge. 

He says the more he considered this spot and its circumstances, 
the more he was confirmed in the belief that formerly the chain of 
the Blue Ridge, in its entire state, completely denied the Potomac 



342 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

a passage onward, and that then all the waters of the upper part 
of the river having no issue, formed several considerable lakes. 
The numerous transverse chains that succeed each other beyond 
Fort Cumberland, could not fail to occasion several more west of 
North mountain. 

" On the other hand, all the valley of the Shenandoa and Co- 
nigocheague must have been the basin of a single lake, extend- 
ing from Staunton to Chambersburgh; and as the level of the hills 
(even those from which these two rivers derive their source) is 
much below the chains of the Blue Ridge and North mountain, it 
is evident that this lake must have been bounded at first only by 
the general line of the summit of these two great chains ; so that 
in the earliest ages it must have spread, like them, toward the 
south, as far as the great Alleghanies." 

At that period, the two upper branches of James river, equally 
bounded by the Blue Ridge, would have swelled it with all their 
waters; while towards the north, the general level of the lake, 
finding no obstacles, must have spread itself between the Blue 
Ridge and the chain of Kitta tinny, not only to the Susquehan- 
nah and Schuylkill, but beyond the Schuylkill, and even the Del- 
aware. 

Then all the lower country, lying between the Blue Ridge and 
the sea, had only smaller streams, furnished by the eastern de- 
clivities of that ridge, and the overflowing of the lake, pouring 
from its summit over the brow of the ridge, in many places form- 
ing cascades of beauty, which marked the scenery of primeval 
landscape, immediately after the deluge. In consequence, the 
river there being less, and the land generally more flat, the ridge 
of talc granite must have stopped the waters and formed marshy 
lakes. The sea must have come up to the vicinity of this ridge, 
and there occasioned other marshes of the same kind, as the Dis- 
mal Swamp, near Norfolk, being partly in the States of Virginia 
and North Carolina. And if the reader recollect, the stratum of 
black mud, mixed with osier and trees, which is found every where 
in boring on the coast, he will see in it a proof of the truth of 
this hypothesis. 

But when the great embankment gave away, by the weight of 
the waters above, or by attrition, convulsion, or whatever may 
have been the cause of their rupture^ the rush of the waters 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 343 

brought from above all that stratum of earth now lying on the top 
of these subterranean trees, osiers and mud above noticed. This 
operation must have been so much the easier, as Blue Ridge in 
general is not a homogeneous mass, crystalized in vast strata, but 
a heap of detached biocks of different magnitudes, mixed with ve- 
getable mould, easily diffusable in water. It is in fact a wall, the 
stones of which are embedded in clay; and as its declivities are 
very steep, it frequently happens that thaws and heavy rains, by 
carrying away the earth, deprive the masses of stones of their 
support, and then the fall of one or more of these, occasions very 
considerable stone slips or avalanches, which sometimes continue 
for several hours. 

From this circumstance,, the falls from the lake must have 
acted with the more effect and rapidity. Their first attempts have 
left traces in those gaps with which the line of summits, is inden- 
ted from space to space, or from ridge to ridge. It maybe clearly 
perceived on the spot, that these places were the first drains of 
the surplus waters subsequently abandoned for others, where the 
work of demolition was more easy. It is obvious that the lakes 
flowing off, must have changed the whole face of the lower 
country. By this were brought down all these earths of a se- 
condary formation, that compose the present plain. The ridge 
of talcky granite, pressed by more frequent and voluminous in- 
undations, gave way in several points, and its marshes added their 
mud to the black mud of the shore, which at present we find bu- 
ried under the alluvial earth, afterward brought down by the en- 
larged rivers. 

In the valley between the Blue Ridge and North mountain, the 
changes that took place were conformable to the mode in which 
the water flowed off. Several breaehes having, at once or in suc- 
cession, given a passage to the streams of water now called James, 
Potomac, Susquehannah, Schuylkill and Delaware, their general 
and common reservoir was divided into as many distinct lakes, 
separated by the risings of the ground that exceeded this level. — 
Each of these lakes had its particular drain, and this drain being 
at length worn down to the lowest level, the land was left com- 
pletely uncovered. 

This must have occurred earlier with James, Susquehannah 
and Delaware, because their basins are more elevated, and it must 



344 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

have happened more recently with the Potomac, for the opposite 
reason, its basin being the deepest of all. How far the Delaware 
then extended, the reflux of its waters towards the east, he could 
not ascertain ; however, it appears its basin was bounded by the 
ridge that accompanies its left bank, and which is the apparent 
continuation of the Blue Ridge and North mountain. It is prob- 
able that its basin has always been separate from that of the Hud- 
son, as it is certain that the Hudson has always had a distinct 
basin, the limit and mound of which were above West Point, at 
the place called the Highlands, commencing immediately belov 
Newburgh. 

At this place on the western shore of the Hudson, the ancient 
bed or course of that river can be traced in a southwestern direc- 
tion, to where it once united with the waters of the Delaware, 
and thus they travelled to the sea in company, whereas the former 
has subsequently sought to travel alone, disembouging its flood 
into the sea at an entire and distant point of the compass. The 
ancient bed^ however, is much higher than its present one, as the 
country over which it travels plainly shows, favoring greatly the 
supposition of the lake, which had its foot against this range of 
mountains. 

To every one who views this spot, it seems incontestible that 
the transverse chain bearing the name of the Highlands, was for- 
merly a bar to the course of the entire river, and kept its waters 
at a considerable height; and considering that the tide flows as 
far as ten miles above Albany, is the proof that the level above 
the ridge was a lake which reached as far as to the rapids on Fort 
Edward. 

At that time, therefore, the Cohoes, or falls of the Mohawk, did 
not appear, and till this lake was drained off through the gap at 
West Point, the sound of those falls was not heard. The existence 
of this lake explains the cause of the alluvials, petrified shells, 
and strata of schist and clay mentioned by Dr. Mitchell, and 
proves the justice of the opinions of this judicious observer, res- 
pecting the stationary presence of waters in ages past, along the 
valley of many of the American rivers. These ancient lakes, 
now drained by the rupture of their mounds, explains another ap- 
pearance which is observed in the valley of such rivers as are sup- 
posed to have been once lakes, as the Tennessee, the Kentucky,. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 345 

the Mississippi, the Kanhaway, and the Ohio. This appearance 
is the several stages or flats observed on the banks of these rivers 
and most of the rivers of America, as if the water once was higher 
than at subsequent periods, and by some means were drained off 
more ; so that the volume of water fell lower when a new mark 
of embankment would be formed, marking the original heights of 
the shores of these rivers. 

In none is this appearance more perceptible than the Ohio, at 
the place called Cincinnati, or Fort Washington. Here the ori- 
ginal or first bank is nearly fifty feet high, and runs along pa- 
rallel with the river, at the distance of about seventy-five rods. — 
The high floods sometimes even now overflow this first level. At 
other places the banks are marked, not with so high an ancient 
shore, but then the lowness of the country in such places admit- 
ted the spread of the waters to the foot of the hills of nature. — 
When we examine the arrangement of these flats, which are pre- 
sented in the form of stages along this river, we remain convinced 
that even the most elevated part of the plain, or highest level about 
Cincinnati,! has been once the seat of waters, and even the primi- 
tive bed of the river, which appears to have had three different 
periods of decline, till it has sunken to its present bed*or place of 
its current. 

The first of the periods was the time when the transverse 
ridges of the hills, yet entire, barred up the course of the Ohio, 
and acting as mounds to it, kept the water level with their sum- 
mits. All the country within this level was then one immense 
lake, or marsh of stagnant water. In lapse of time, and from 
the periodical action of the floods, occasioned by the annual 
melting of the snows, some feeble parts of the mound were worn 
away by the water. One of the gaps, having at length given 
away to the current, the whole effort of the waters was collected 
in that point, which soon hollowed out for itself a greater depth, 
and thus sunk the lake several yards. The first operation un- 
covered the upper or first level on which the waters had stood, . 
from the time of the subsiding of the deluge, till the first rupture 
took place. 

From the appearance of the shores of the river, it seems to 
have maintained its position after the first draining some length 
of time, so as distinctly to mark the position of the waters when a 



346 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

second draining took place, t^cause the waters had, by their ac- 
tion, removed whatever may have opposed the first attempt to 
break down their mound or barrier. The third and last rent of 
the barrier took place at length, when the fall of the water became 
more furious, being now more concentrated, scooped out for it- 
self a narrower and deeper channel, which is its present bed, 
leaving all the immense alluvial regions of the Ohio bare, and ex- 
posed to the rays of the sun. 

It is probable that the Ohio has been obstructed at more places 
than one, from Pittsburg to the rapids of Louisvillle, as that be- 
low Silver creek, about five miles from the rapids of the Ohio, and 
towards Galliopolis and the Scioto, several transverse chains of 
mountains exist, very capable of answering this purpose. Volney 
says it was not till his return from Fort Vincent, on the Wabash, 
that he was struck with the disposition of a chain of hills below 
Silver creek. This ridge crosses the basin of the Ohio, from 
north to south, and has obliged the river to change its direction 
from the east towards the west, to seek an issue, which in fact it 
finds at the confluence of Salt river,; and it may even be said that 
it required the copious and rapid waters of this river and its nu- 
merous branches, to force the mound that opposed its way at this 
place. The steep declivity of these ridges requires about a quar- 
ter of an hour to descend it by the way of the road, though it is 
good and commodious; and by comparison with other hills around, 
he conceived the perpendicular height to be about 400 feet, or 25 
rods. The summit of those hills, when Volney visited them, was 
too thickly covered with wood for the lateral course of the chain 
to be seen ; but, so far as he could ascertain, perceived that it 
runs very far north and south, and closes the basin of the Ohio 
throughout its whole breadth. This basin, viewed from the sum- 
mit of this range, exhibits the appearance and form of a lake so 
strongly, that the idea of the ancient existence of one here is in- 
dubitable. Other circumstances tend to confirm this idea, for he 
observed from this chain to White river, eight miles from Fort 
Vincent, that the country is interspersed with a number of ridges, 
many of them steep, and even lofty. They are particularly so 
beyond Blue-ridge, and on both banks of White river, and their 
direction is every where such, that they meet the Ohio trans- 
versely. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 347 

On the other hand, he found at Louisville that the south, or 
Kentucky bank of the river, corresponding to them, had similar 
ridges; so that in this part is a succession of ridges, capable of 
opposing powerful obstacles to the waters. It is not till lower 
down the river that the country becomes flat, and the ample sa- 
vannahs of the Wabash and Green rivers commence, which, ex- 
tending to the Mississippi, exclude every idea of any other 
mound or barrier to the waters on that side of the river. There 
is another fact in favor of these western rivers having been, in 
many places, lakes found in this country, and is noticed as a 
great singularity. In Kentucky, all the rivers of that country 
flow more slowly near their sources than at their mouths, — 
which is directly the reverse of what takes place in most rivers 
of other parts of the world ; whence it is inferred, that the upper 
bed of the rivers of Kentucky is a flat country, and that the 
lower bed, at the entrance of the vale of the Ohio, is a descending 
slope. 

Now this perfectly accords with the idea of an ancient lake, — 
for at the time when this lake extended to the foot of the Allegha- 
nies, its bottom, particularly towards its mouth, must have been 
nearly smooth and level, its surface being broken by no action of 
the waters ; but, when the mounds or hills which confined this 
tranquil body of water were broken down, the soil, laid bare, be- 
gan to be furrowed and cut into sluices by its drains, and when at 
length the current became concentrated in the vale of the Ohio, 
and demolished its dyke more rapidly, the soil of this vale washed 
away with violence, leaving a vast channel, the slopes of which 
occasioned the waters of the plain to flow to it more quickly, and 
hence this current, which notwithstanding the alterations that have 
been going on ever since, have continued more rapid to the pres- 
ent day. 

Admitting, then, that the Ohio has been barred up, either by 
the chain of Silver creek, or any other contiguous to it, a lake of 
great extent must have been the result. From Pittsburgh the 
ground slopes so gently that the river,when low, does not run two 
miles an hour, which indicates a fall of .four inches to the mile. — 
The whole distance from Pittsburg to the rapids of Louisville, fol- 
lowing all the windings of the river, does not exceed 600 miles. 
From these data, we have a difference of level, amounting to 200 



348 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

feet, which does not exceed the elevation of the ranges of hills 
supposed to have once dammed up the Ohio river at that place. 
Such a mound could check the waters and turn them back as far 
as to Pittsburg. 

Such having been the fact, what an immense space of the wes- 
tern country must have lain under water from the subsiding of the 
flood till this mound was broken down ! This is made apparent 
by the spring freshets of the Ohio, at the present time, which, ri- 
sing only to the height of fifty feet, keeps back the water of the 
great Miami, as far as Grenville, a distance of seventy miles up 
the country to the north, where it occasions a stagnation of that 
river, and even an inundation of its shores, to a great extent. In 
the vernal inundations the north brdnch of the Great Miami forms 
but one with the south branch ; the space between becomes one 
body of water. 

" The south branch runs into Lake Erie, and is sometimes 
called St. Mary's river. The carrying place, or portage between 
the heads of these two rivers is but three miles, and in high water 
the space can be passed over in a boat, from the one which runs 
into the Ohio, to the other which runs into Lake Erie." This 
Mr. Volney states to have been the fact, as witnessed by himself 
on the spot, in the year 1796 ; so near are all these waters on a 
level with each other. He says that, during the year 1792, a 
mercantile house at Fort Detroit, which is at the head of Lake 
Erie, despatched two canoes, which passed immediately, without 
carrying, from the river Huron running into Lake Erie, to Grand 
river, which runs into Lake Michigan, by the waters overflowing 
at the head of each of these rivers, The Muskingum, which runs 
into the Ohio, also communicates, by means of its sources, and of 
small lakes, with the waters of the riyer Cayahoga, which flows 
into Lake Erie. 

From all these facts united, it follows that the surface of the 
level country between Lake Erie and the Ohio, cannot exceed the 
level of the flat next to the waters of the Ohio more than 100 feet, 
nor that of the second flat or level, which is the general surface 
of the country, more than seventy feet; consequently a mound or 
range of mountain, of 200 feet, at Silver creek, 600 miles down 
the Ohio, from Pittsburg, would have been sufficient to keep 
back its waters, not only as far as Lake Erie, but even to spread 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 349 

them from the last slopes of the Alleghanies to the north of Lake 
Superior. 

But whatever elevation we allow this natural mound, or if we 
suppose there were several in different places, keeping back the 
water in succession, the existence of sedentary waters in this 
western country, and ancient lakes, such as we have pointed out 
between Blue Ridge and North mountain, is not the less an incon- 
trovertible fact, as must appear to every one who contemplates 
the country ; and this fact explains, in a simple and satisfactory 
manner, a number of local circumstances which, on the other 
hand, serve as proofs of the fact. 

For instance, these ancient lakes explain why, in every part of 
the basin of the Ohio, the land is always levelled in horizontal 
beds of different heights ; why these beds are placed in the order 
of their specific gravity ; and why we find' in various places the 
remains of trees, of osier, and of other plants. They also hap- 
pily and naturally account for the formation of the immense beds 
of sea coal found in the western country, in certain situations and 
particular districts. 

In fact, from the researches which the inhabitants have made,, 
it appears that the principal seat of coal is above Pittsburg, in the 
space between the Laurel mountain and the rivers Alleghany and 
Monongahela, where exists almost throughout, a stratum, at the 
average depth of twelve and sixteen feet. This stratum is sup- 
ported by the horizontal bed of calcareous stones, and covered 
with strata of schists and slate. It rises and falls with these on 
the hills and valleys, being thicker as it rises with the hills, but 
thinner in the vales. 

On considering its local situation, we see it occupies the lower 
basin of the two rivers we have mentioned, and of their branches, 
the Yohogany and Kiskemanitaus, all of which flow through a 
nearly flat country, into the Ohio below Pittsburg. Now, on the 
hypothesis of the great lake of which we have spoken, this pait 
will be found to have been originally the lower extremity of the 
iake, and the part where its being kept back would have occa- 
sioned still water. It is admitted by naturalists that coal is formed 
of heaps of trees carried away by rivers and floods, and after- 
wards covered with earth. 

These heaps are not accumulated in the course of the stream, 



350 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

but in parts out of it, where they are lett to their own weight ; 
which becomes saturated with water, within a sufficient lapse of 
time, so as t© increase their gravity sufficient to sink to the depths 
below. 

" This process may be observed, even now, in many rivers of 
America, particularly in the Mississippi, which annually carries 
along with its current a great number of trees Some of these 
trees are deposited in the bays and eddies, and there left in still 
water to sink, but the greater part reach the borders of the ocean, 
where the current being balanced by the tide, they are rendered 
stationary, and buried under the mud and sand, by the double ac- 
tion of the stream of the river and the reflux of the sea. In the 
same manner, anciently, the rivers that flow from the Alleghany 
and Laurel mountains into the basin of the Ohio, finding towards 
Pittsburg, the dead waters and tail of the great lake, there depo- 
sited the trees and drift wood which they still carry away by 
thousands when the frost breaks up and the snows melt in the 
spring. These trees were accumulated in strata, level as the fluid 
that bore them, and the mound of the lakes sinking gradually, as 
we have before explained, its tail was likewise lowered by degrees 
and the place of deposit changed as the lake receded, forming that 
vast bed which in the lapse of ages has been subsequently covered 
with earth and gravel, and acquired the mineral qualities of coal, 
the state in which we find it. 

" Coal is found in several other parts of the United States, and 
always in circumstances analagous to those we have just de- 
scribed. In the year 1784, at the mouth of the rivulet La- 
minskicola, which runs into the Muskingum, the stratum of coal 
there took fire, and burnt for a whole year. This mine is a part 
of the mass of which we have been speaking; and almost all the 
great rivers that run into the Ohio must have deposits of this kind 
in their flat and long levels, and in places of their eddies. The 
upper branches of the Potomac, above and to the left of Fort Cum- 
berland, have been celebrated for some years for their strata of 
coal embedded along the shores, so that boats can lie at their 
banks and load. 

"Now this part of the country has every appearance of having 
been once a lake, produced by one or more of the numerous 
transverse ridges that bound the Potomac, above and below Fort 
Cumberland. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 351 

11 In Virginia, the bed of James river rests on a very consider- 
able bed of coal. At two or three places where shafts have been 
sunk, on its left bank, after digging a hundred and twenty feet 
through red clay, a bed of coal, about twenty- four feet thick, has 
been found, on an inclined stratum of granite. It is evident that 
at the rapids, lower down, were the course of the river is still 
checked, it was once completely obstructed, and then there must 
have been a standing water, and very probably a lake. The rea- 
der will observe that wherever there is a rapid, a stagnation takes 
place in the sheet of water above, just as there is at a mill head ; 
consequently the drifted trees must have accumulated there, and 
when the outlet of the lake had hollowed out for itself a gap, and 
sunk its level, the annual floods brought down with them and de- 
posited the red clay now found there ; as it is evident that this 
clay was brought from some other place, for the earth of such a 
quality belongs to the upper part of the course of the river, parti- 
cularly to the ridge called Southwest. 

" It is possible that veins or mines of coal, not adapted to this 
theory, may be mentioned or discovered on the coast of the At- 
lantic. But one or more such instances will not be sufficient to 
subvert this theory ; for the whole of this coast, or all the land 
between the ocean and the Alleghanies, from the St. Lawrence 
to the West Indies, has been destroyed by earthquakes, the traces 
of which are every where to be seen, and these earthquakes have 
altered the arrangement of strata throughout the whole of this 
space." 

This account, as given by Breckenridge, of the appearance of 
a portion of the country between two forks of a small branch of 
the Arkansas river favors this supposition. 

" There is a tract of country," he says, "of about seventy-five 
miles square, in which nature has displayed a great variety of the 
most strange and whimsical vagaries. It is an assemblage of 
beautiful meadows, verdant ridges, and misshapen piles of red 
clay, thrown together in the utmost apparent confusion, yet af- 
fording the most pleasing harmonies, and presenting in every di- 
rection an endless variety of curious and interesting objects. After 
winding along for a few miles on the high ridges, you suddenly 
descend an almost perpendicular declivity of rocks and clay, into 
a series of level, fertile meadows, watered by some beautiful riv- 



352 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ulets, and here and there adorned with shrubbery, cotton trees, 
elms and cedars. 

" These natural meadows are divided by chains formed of red 
clay, and huge masses of gypsum, with here and there a pyramid 
of gravel. One might imagine himself surrounded by the ruins 
of some ancient city, and the plains to have been sunk by some 
convulsion of nature, more than a hundred feet below its former 
level, for some of the huge columns of red clay rise to the height 
of two hundred feet perpendicular, capped with rocks of gymsum." 
This is supposed to have been the work of an earthquake. 

Thus far we have given the view of this great naturalist (Vol- 
ney) respecting the existence of ancient lakes to •the west, and of 
the formation of the strata of seacoal in those regions. If then 
it be allowed that timber being deposited deep in the earth, be- 
comes the origin of that mineral, we discover at once the chief 
material which feeds the internal fires of the globe. The earth, 
at the era of the great deluge being covered with an immensity 
of forests, more than it now presents, furnished the material, 
when sunk and plunged to the unkown depths of the then soft 
and pulpy globe, for exhaustless strata of seacoal. This, by 
some means, having taken fire, continues to burn, and descend- 
ing deeper and deeper, spreading farther and farther, till the con- 
querless element has even under sunk the ocean ; from whence it 
frequently bursts forth in the very middle of the sea, accompani- 
ed with all the grandeur of display and phenomena of fire and 
water, mingled in unbounded warfare. This internal operation 
of fire feeding on the unctious minerals of the globe, among 
which, as chief, is seacol, becomes the parent of many a new 
Island, thrown up by the violence of that element. We cannot 
but call to recollection in this place, the remarkable allusion of 
Isaiah, chap, xxx., 33, which is so phrased as almost induces a 
belief that he had reference to this very circumstance, that of the 
internal fires of the globe being fed by wood carbonated or turned 
to coal. " For Tophet is ordained of old. # * He hath made 
it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the 
breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it.'- 
Various accidents are supposeable by which seacoal may have, 
at first, taken fire, so as to commence the first volcano ; and in 
its operations to have ignited other mineral substances, as sulphur, 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 353 

saltpetre, bitumen, and salts of various kinds. An instance of 
the ignition of seacoal by accident, is mentioned in Dr. Beck's 
Gazetteer, to have taken place on a tract of country called the 
American Bottom, situated between the Kaskaskia river and the 
mouth of the Missouri. On this great alluvion, which embraces 
a body of land equal to five hundred square miles, seacoal 
abounds, and was first discovered in a very singular manner. In 
clearing the ground of its timber, a tree took fire which was 
standing and was dry, which communicated to the roots, but con- 
tinued to burn much longer than was sufficient to exhaust the 
tree, roots and all. But upon examination it was found to have 
taken hold of a bed of coal, which continued to burn until the 
fire was smothered by the falling in of a large body of earth, 
which the fire had undermined by destroying the coal and caus- 
ing a cavity. This is a volcano in miniature, and how long it 
might have continued its ravages with increased violence, is un- 
known, had it not have so opportunely been extinguished. But 
this class of strata of that mineral lies, of necessity, much deeper 
in many places than any other of the kind, deposited since the 
flood, by the operation of rivers and lakes. If, as we have sup- 
posed in this volume, the earth, previous to the flood of Noah, 
had a greater land surface than at t!ie present time, we find in 
this supposition a sufficiency of wood, the deposition of which 
being thrown into immense heaps by the whirls, waves and ed- 
dies of the waters, to make whole subterranean ranges of this 
coal equal in size to the largest and longest mountains of the 
globe. These ranges, in many places, rise even above the or- 
dinary surface of the land, having been bared, since the flood, 
by the violence of convulsions occasioned by both volcanic fires 
and the irruptions of bodies of water and incessent rains. If 
those philosophers who affect to despise the writings of Moses, 
as found in the book of Genesis, who has given us an account of 
the deluge, would think of this fact, the origin of seacoal, 
they could not but subscribe to this one account at least, which 
that book has given of the flood. The insignificant deposi- 
tioos of timber, occasioned by the drawing off of lakes, or 
change of water courses, since the flood, cannot be supposed to 
be in sufficient quantities to furnish the vast magazines of this 
mineral, compared with that of the universal flood. These strata 

23 



354 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

of coal appearing too in such situations as to preclude all idea of 
their having been formed by the operation of water since the 
flood, so that we are driven, by indubitable deduction of fair and 
logical argument, to resort to just such an occurrence as the deluge, 
the account of which is given by Moses in the Scripture. So 
that if there were never an universal flood, as stated in the Bible, 
the ingenuity of sceptical philosophy whould be sadly perplexed, 
as well as all others, to account for the deposition of wood enough 
to furnish all the mines of this article found over the whole earth, 
in its several locations, if wood be the origin of coal. 

If another flood were to drown the world, its deposits of timber 
could not equal, by one half, the deposits of the Noachian deluge, 
on account of the land surface of the earth having, under the in- 
fluence of that flood, been greatly diminished. If it be truly said 
in the Bible, that the earth perished by water, and also that the 
fountains of the great deep (subterranean seas,) were broken up, 
we arrive at the conclusion that there was more wood devoted to 
the purpose of coal creation, because there was, it is likely, dou- 
ble the quantity of dry land for the forest to grow upon. Fur- 
ther in proof that vegetables and wood are the prime origin of 
pitcoal, we give the remarks of J. * Correa de Serra, in a paper 
read before the American Philosophical Society held at Philadel- 
phia, 1815. 

This gentleman, in speaking of his own examination of the 
remarkable fertility of a certain part of Kentucky, namely that 
of the Elk-horn tract, and of other pnrts of the west, says, 
"These western strata of earth contain imbedded in them an im- 
mense quantity of marine shells, and other organized bodies, be- 
longing to the animal and vegetable kingdom. The vegetable re- 
remains in particular are in such astonishing abundance, that they 
form thick strata of coals, extending in some parts to hundreds of 
miles, keeping always nearly the same level, as it is particularly 
ascertained of that stratum of excellent coals, which is worked 
at Coal hill, opposite to Pittsburgh, across the Monongahela." 

Again, further on in the same paper, and read at the same 
time, the writer says to the society. 4k Let us now remember the 
unbounded derosites of fo s 1 vegetables which are found in this 
western region, the coal stratum of Pitt* burgh for instance, ex- 
tending for hundreds of miles. Let us also reflect on the differ- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 355 

ence of the alterations which vegetable bodies undergo, when de- 
composing, if imbedded between stony strata of a ponderous solid 
nature, or only covered by light permeable strata, or under a 
column of water. How different are these operations from their 
decomposition in the atmosphere ! In the first case, the pressure 
of a solid stratum, the heat of a fermentation which cannot work 
but on itself where no principle is lost, but all of them form new 
combinations, reduce the decomposed vegetable to the state of 
coals. 7 ' — (Transactions of the Phil. Society, chap, xi., p. 174) 

But let it be observed, the author of the above remarks on the 
formation of coal, does not say that timber of the ancient forests 
of the earth, is the origin of coal, neither does he deny it ; but 
believes that the marine forests, growing at the bottom of oceans, 
is the true origin, mingled with other marine substances, of the 
creation of sea or pitcoal. Accordingly, at all places where this 
mineral is found, the sea, in some former age of the earth_, must 
have rested. America, therefore^ at some unknown distance of 
ages, must have been, in many parts, beneath the sea. But of 
such an idea, we believe nothing, except at the time of Noah's 
flood. Lakes, however, as Volney contends,, may have deposited 
the wood of forests in those parts of the west where coal is found. 
Those places, therefore, where it is found too elevated to admit of 
this idea, we have only to recollect that they were strata of coal 
so created at the bottom of the lakes or seas, which have now 
shifted their situations, have been hove up by convulsions, occa- 
sioned by various agents acting in the bowels of the earth, as 
fire, air, galvanism and water. 

It is said by those who have examined the immense coal bed at 
Pittsburgh, that the very kind of trees of which the coal was 
formed can be distinguished, as the beech, the maple, the birch, 
the ash, &c, lying in all directions through the whole stratum of 
the coal region 



356 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 



Further Remarks on the Draining of the Western Country 
of its Ancient Lakes. 

In corrobboration of the theory of Mr. Volney on this subject, 
we give the brief remarks of that accurate and pleasing writer, 
Mr. Schoolcraft, well known to the reading class of the public. 
He says, while treating on the subject of the appearance of the 
two prints of human feet, in the limestone strata along the shore 
of the Mississippi, at St. Louis : "May we not suppose a barrier 
to have once existed across the lower part of the Mississippi, con- 
verting its immense valley into an interior sea, whose action was 
adequate to the production and deposition of calcareous strata. — 
We do not consider such a supposition incompatible with the exist- 
ence of transition rocks in this valley ; the position of the latter 
being beneath the secondary. Are not the great northern lakes 
the remains of such an ocean ? And did not the sudden demolition 
of this ancient barrier enable this powerful stream to carry its 
banks, as it has manifestly done, a hundred miles into the gulf of 
Mexico. We think such an hypothesis much more probable, than 
that the every day deposits of this river should have that effect on 
the gulf. We have been acquainted with the mouths of the Mis- 
sissippi for more than a century ; and yet its several channels, to 
all appearance, are essentially the same as when first discovered. 
Favoring the same position or theory, we give from Dr. Beck's 
Gazetteer, a quotation from Silliman's Journal, third volume, quo- 
ted by that author from Bringier on the region of the Mississippi, 
who says that, "Between White river and the Missouri, are three 
parallel porphyry ranges, running circularly from the west to the 
northeast. These three mountains are twenty-eight miles across, 
and seem to have been above water, when the whole country 
around was covered with an ocean. 7 ' At the foot of one of these 
ranges was found the tooth of some tremendous monster, suppos- 
ed to be a mammoth, twice as large as any found at the Big-bone 
lick. An account of this creature, so far as we are able to give 
it, has already been done in this work ; yet we feel it incumbent 
to insert a recent discovery respecting this monster which we had 
not seen when those pages went to press. The account is as fol- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 357 

lows. There were lately dug up at Massillon, Starke county, 
Ohio, two large tusks, measuring each nine feet six inches in 
length, and eight inches diameter, being two feet in girth at the 
largest ends. The outside covering is as firm and hard as ivory, 
but the inner parts were considerably decayed. They were found 
in a swamp, about two feet below the surface, and were similar to 
those found some time ago at Bone-lick, in Kentucky, the size of 
which animal, judging from the bones found, was not less than six- 
ty feet in length, and twenty-two in height, and twelve across the 
hips. Each tooth of the creatures mouth which was found, weigh- 
ed eleven pounds. — (Clearfield Banner, 1832.) 

This is, indeed, realizing the entire calculation made by Adam 
Clarke, the commentator, who tells, as before remarked, that hav- 
ing examined one toe of the creature supposed to be the mammoth, 
he found it of sufficient size and length to give, according to the 
rule of animal proportion, an animal at least sixty feet in length 
and twenty five feet high. 

The animal must have come down in its species, from the very 
outset of time, with all other animals. A male and female of this 
enormous beast must have been saved in the ark ; but it is likely 
the Divine Providence directed a pair that were young, and there- 
fore not as large and ferocious as such as were full grown would 
be. The finding of this animal in America, is, it would appear, 
incontrovertible evidence that the continent was, at some period, 
united with the old world at some place or places, as has been con- 
tended in this work ; as so large an animal could neither have 
been brought hither by men, in any sort of craft hitherto known, 
except the ark ; nor could they have swam so far, even if they 
were addicted to the water. But to return to the subject of wes- 
tern lakes. How great a lapse of time took place from the sub- 
siding of the flood of Noah, till the bursting away of the several 
barriers, is unknown. The emptying out of such vast bodies of 
water, as held an almost boundless region of the west in a state of 
complete submergency, must of necessity have raised the Atlantic, 
so as to envelope in its increase many a fair and level country 
along its coasts, both on this continent and those of Europe and 
Africa. In such an emergency, all islands which were low on the 
surface, and not much elevated above the sea, must have been 
drowned, or parts of them, so that their hills, if any they had, 



$58 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

would only be left, a sad and small memorial of their ancient do- 
mains. It may have been, that the rush of these mighty waters 
from the west, flowing to the sea at once, down the channels of sc 
many rivers, at first broke up and enveloped the land between the 
range of the West India islands and the shores of the gulf of Mex- 
ico. It is conjectured by naturalists, that the time was when those 
islands were in reality the Atlantic coast of the continent. Some 
convulsion, therefore, must have transpired to bring about so great 
a change. 

If, as Schoolcraft has suggested, the Mississippi, in bursting 
down its barriers, drove the earthy matter which accompanied it 
in that occurrence a hundred miles into the sea, it may well be 
supposed that if all that space, now the gulf, was then a low tract 
of country, which is natural to suppose, as its shores are so now, 
that it was overwhelmed, while the higher parts of the coast, now 
the West India islands, are all that remains of that drowned coun- 
try. The gulf of Mexico is full of low islands, scarcely above the 
level of the sea, which have been, from the earliest history of that 
coast, the resort of pirates. Their peculiar situation in this res- 
pect, would favor the opinion, that the once low and level shores 
were, by the rush and overflowing of the waters, buried to a great 
extent in the country, leaving above water every eminence, which 
are now the islands of the gulf. From an examination of the 
lakes Seneca, Cayuga and Erie, it is evident from their banks, that 
anciently the water stood in them ten and twelve feet higher than 
at present ; these also, therefore, have been drained a second 
time, since those of which we have been speaking, of which these 
were once a part. It is evident from the remarks of Brecken- 
ridge, which are the result of actual observations of that traveller, 
that there was formerly an outlet from lake Michigan to the Mis- 
sissippi, by the way of the Illinois river, which heads near the 
southern end of that lake. 

This is supported by the well known facts, that the waters of 
all the lakes drained by the St. Lawrence, have sunk many feet. 
The Illinois shows plainly the marks of having once conveyed a 
much greater body of water between its shores than at the present 
time. All the western lakes, Superior, Michigan, Huron, lake of 
the Woods, Erie, Seneca, Cayuga, and many lesser ones, are the 
mere remnants of the great inland fresh water sea which once ex- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 359 

isted in this region, and the time may come when all the lakes 
will be again drained off to the north by the way of the St. Law- 
rance, and to the south by other rivers, to the sea, adding a con- 
try of land freed in a measure from these waters, as great in 
extent as all the lakes put together. It is believed by the most 
observing naturalists, that the falls of Niagara were once as' low 
down the river as where Queenstown is situated, which is six 
or eight miles below the fall. If so, the time may come, and none 
can tell how soon, when the falls shall have worn through the stone 
ridge or precipice, over which the Niagara is precipitated, and 
coming to a softer barrier of mere earth, the power of the water 
would not be long in rending for itself a more level channel, ex- 
tending to the foot of lake Erie, on an inclined plane of consider- 
able steepness. One shock of an earthquake, such as happened 
in Virginia, in the vicinity of the coal mines, 1833, would prob- 
ably fracture the falls of Niagara, so as to force the waters in its 
subterranean work, and undermine the falls. 

This would affect lake Erie, causing an increased current in its 
waters, and the lowering of its bed, which would ako have the 
same affect on lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior, with all the 
rest of a lessor magnitude, changingthem from the character they 
now bear, which is that of lakes, to that of mere rivers, like the 
Ohio. In the mean time, Ontario would become enlarged, so as 
to rise, perhaps, to a level with the top of the falls, which is one 
hundred and fifty feet. Lake Ontario is but about one hnndred 
and fifty feet below the city of Utica, and Utica is four hundred 
feet above the valley of the Hudson river ; consequently, deduct- 
ing the hundred and fifty feet, which is the fall of land from the 
long level, as it is called, on which Utica stands, to the lake, there 
will be left two hundred and fifty feet elevation of lake Ontario 
above the vale of the Hudson. 

That lake, therefore, need to be raised but a little more than one 
hundred and fifty feet, when it would immediately inundate a 
greater part of the state of New York, as well as a part of Upper 
and all of Lower Canada, till the waters should be carried off by 
the way of the several rivers now existing, on the easterly and 
southerly side of the lake, and by new channels ; such catastro- 
phe would most certainly cut for itself, in many directions, in its 
<course to the Atlantic. But we trust such an occurrence may 



360 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

never take place ; yet it is equally possible, as was the draining 
of the more ancient lakes of the west. And however secure the 
ancient inhabitants may have felt themselves, who had settled be- 
low the barriers, yet that inland sea suddenly took up its line of 
march, to wage war with, or to become united to, its counterpart, 
the Atlantic, and in its travel bore away the country, and the na- 
tions dwelling thereon. It is scarcely to be doubted, but the same 
effects were experienced by the ancient inhabitants settled between 
the Euxine or Black sea and the Mediterranean, and the whole 
coast of that inland ocean, where its shores were skirted by low 
countries. It is stated by Elucid, in a conversation that philoso- 
pher had with Anacharsis, of whom we have before spoken in 
this work, that the Black sea was once entirely surrounded by nat- 
ural embankments, but that many rivers running into it from Eu- 
rope and Asia, at length overflowed its barriers, cutting for itself 
a deep channel, tore out the whole distance from its own shore to 
that of the Archipelago, a branch of the Mediterranean, which is 
something more than a hundred miles, now called the Bosphorus. 
It is not impossible but from the rush of all these waters at once, 
into the Mediterranean, that at that time the isthmus which united 
Europe and Africa where now is situated the strait of Gibraltar, 
was then torn away. It is true that the ancients attributed this 
separation to the power of Hercules, which circumstance, though 
we do not believe in the strength of this hero, points out clearly 
that an isthmus once was there. By examining the map of the 
Black sea, we find that beside the outlet of the Bosphorus, there is 
none other ; so that previous to the time of that rupture it had no 
visible outlet. Some internal convulsions, therefore, must have 
taken place, so that its subterranean channels became obstructed, 
and caused it at once to overflow its lowest embankment, which it 
appears was toward the Archipelago, or the west. The Caspian 
sea, in the same country, has no outlet, though many large rivers 
flow into it. If, therefore, this body of water, which is nearly 700 
miles long, and nearly 300 wide, were to be deranged in its sub- 
terranean outlets, it would also soon overflow at its lowest points, 
which is also on its western side, at its southern end, and rushing 
on between the Georgian or Circassian and Taurus mountains,, 
would plough for itself a channel to the Black sea. From this 
view, the rupturing of the ancient embankments of lakes in Europe, 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 361 

Asia and America, it appears that the waters of the Atlantic are 
now, of necessity, much deeper than anciently ; On which ac- 
count many fair countries, and large islands, once thickly peopled, 
and covered with cities, towns and cultivated regions, lie now 
where sea monsters sport above them, while whole tracts of coun- 
try once merged in other parts of the earth beneath the waters, 
have lifted hills and dales to the light and influence of the sun, 
and spread out the lap of happy countries, whereon whole nations 
of men now live, where once the wind drove onward the terrific 
billows. 



Causes of the Disappearance of the Ancient Nations. 

But what has finally become of these nations and where are 
their descendants, are questions, which, could they be answered, 
would be highly gratifying. 

On opening a mound, below Wheeling on the Ohio, a few years 
since, a stone was found, having on it a brand exactly similar to 
the one commonly used by the Mexican nations, in marking their 
cattle and horses. 

From this it is evident, that the ancient nations were not sava- 
ges, or a trait of the domestication of animals would not be found 
in the country, they once inhabited. The head of the Sustajases 
or Mexican hog, cut of square, was found in a saltpetre cave in 
Kentucky, not long since, by Dr. Brown. This circumstance is 
mentioned by Dr. Drake, in his Picture of Cincinnati. The ni- 
tre had preserved it. It had been deposited there by the ancient 
inhabitants where it must have lain for ages. 

This animal is not found, it is said, north of the Mexican coun- 
try, the north line of which is about on the 40th degree of north 
latitude, and the presumption is, that the inhabitants took these 
animals along with them in their migrations, until they finally 
settled in Mexico. Other animals, as the elk, the moose and the 
buffalo, were doubtless domesticated by them, and used for agri- 
cultural purposes, as the ox, the horse, and various other animals 
are now in use among us. 



362 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

The wild sheep of Oregon, Louisiana, California and the Rocky 
mountains, the same found in the north of Asia, may be remnants 
of the flocks of that animal, once domesticated all over these re- 
gions by those people, and used for food. 

One means of their disappearance may have been the noxious 
effluvia, which would inevitably arise from the bottoms of those 
vast bodies of water, which must have had a pestilential effect on 
the people settled around them. This position needs no elucida- 
tion, as it is known that the heat of the sun, in its action on 
swamps and marshy grounds, fills the region round them with a 
deathly scent, acting directly on the economy and constitution of 
the human subject, while animals of coarser habits escape. Who 
has not experienced this on the sudden draining of stagnant wa- 
ters, or even those of atmll pond? The reason is the filth settled 
at the bottoms of such places, becomes exposed by having the 
cover taken away, which was the waters, and the winds immedi- 
ately wafting the deleterious vapors; the surrounding atmosphere 
becomes corrupted ; disease follows, with death in its train. But 
on the sudden draining of so great a body of water from such im- 
mense tracts of land, which had been accumulating filth, formed 
of decayed vegetation and animals, from the time of the deluge 
till their passage off at that time, the stench must have been beyond 
all conception dreadful. 

Such is the fact on the subsiding of the waters of the Nile in 
Egypt, which, after having overflown the whole valley of that 
river, about five hundred miles in length, and from fifteen to 
twenty-five in width, leaves an insufferable stench, and is the true 
origin of the plague, which sweeps to eternity annually its thou- 
sands in that country. 

It is not, therefore, impossible nor improbable but by this very 
means, the ancient nations settled round these waters, may have 
indeed been exterminated, or if they were not exterminated, must 
have been exceedingly reduced in numbers, so as to induce the 
residue to flee from so dangerous a country, far to the south, or 
any where from the effects of the dreadful effluvia, arising from 
the newly exposed chasms and gulfs. 

Such also would be the effect on the present inhabitants, should 
the fall of Niagara at length undermine and wear down that strata 
of rock over which it now plunges, and drain the lakes of the 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 363 

west,the remnant of the greater bodies of water which once rested 
there. In the event of such a catastrophe, it would be natural 
that the waters should immediately flow into the head water chan- 
nels of all the rivers northeast and south of Lake Ontario, after 
coming on a level with the heads of the short streams passing into 
that lake on its easterly side. 

The rivers running southeast and North from that part of Lake 
Ontario, as high up as the village of Lyons, are a part of the 
Chemung, the Chenango, the Unadilla, the Susquehannah, the 
Delaware, the Mohawk, the Schoharie, the Au Sable, and the St. 
Lawrence, with all their smaller head water streams. 

The vallies of these streams would become the drains pf such a 
discharge of the western lakes, overwhelming and sweeping away 
all the works of men in those directions, as well as in many other 
directions, where the lowness of the country should be favorable 
to a rush of the waters, leaving isolated tracts of highlands, with 
the mountains as islands, till the work of submersion should be 
over. 

All this, it is likely, will appear extremely visionary, but it 
should not be forgotten that we have predicated it on the supposed 
demolition of Niagara falls, which is as likely to ensue, as that 
the barriers of the ancient lakes should hare given away, where 
the respective falls of the rivers which issued from them, poured 
over their precipices. 

Whoever will examine all the circumstances, says Volney,will 
clearly perceive, that the place where the village of Queenstown 
now stands, the fall at first commenced, and that the river, by 
sawing down the bed of the rock, has hollowed out the chasm, 
and continued carrying back its breach, from age to age, till it 
has at length reached the spot where the cascade now is. There 
it continues its secular labors with slow but incessant activity. — 
The oldest inhabitants of the country remember having seen the 
cataract several paces beyond its present place. The frosts of 
winter have the effect continually of cracking the projecting parts 
of the strata, and the thaws of spring, with the increased powers 
of the augmented waters, loosen and tumble large blocks of the 
rock into the chasm below. 

Dr. Barton, who examined the thickness of the stratum of stone, 
and estimates it at sixteen feet, believes it rests on that of blue 



364 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

schist, which he supposes forms the bed of the river, as well as 
the falls, up to the Erie. Some ages hence, if the river continuing 
its untiring operations, may cease to find the calcareous rock that 
now checks it, and finding a softer strata, the fall will ultimately 
arrive at Lake Erie; and then one of those great desications will 
take place, of which the valleys of the Potomac, Hudson and Ohio 
afford instances in times past. 



. Lake Ontario formed by a Volcano. 

Though the northern parts of America have been known to us 
but about two centuries, yet this interval, short as it is in the an- 
nals of nature, has already, says Volney, been sufficient to con- 
vince us, by numerous examples, that earthquakes must have been 
frequent and violent here, in times past, and that they have been 
the principal cause of the derangements of which the Atlantic 
coast presents such general and striking marks. 

To go back no farther than the year 1628., the time of the ar- 
rival of the first English settlers, and end with 1782, a lapse of 
154 years, in which time there occurred no less than forty-five 
earthquakes. These were always preceded by a noise resembling 
that of a violent wind; or of a chimney on fire ; they often threw 
down chimnies, sometimes even houses, and burst open doors and 
$ windows ; suddenly dried up wells, and even several brooks and 
streams of water, imparting to the waters a turbid color, and the 
foetid smell of liver of sulphur, throwing up out of great chinks 
sand with a similar smell: the shocks of these earthquakes seemed 
to proceed from an internal focus, which raised the earth up from 
below, the principal line of which ran northeast and southwest, 
following the course of the river Merrimack, extending southward 
to the Potomac, and northward beyond the St. Lawrence, particu- 
larly affecting the direction of Lake Ontario. 

Respecting these earthquakes, Volney says, he was indebted to 
a work written by a Mr.Williams, from whose curious researches 
he had derived the most authentic records. But the language and 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 365 

phrases he employs are remarkable, says Mr. Volney, for the 
analogy they bear to local facts noticed by himself respecting the 
appearance of schists on the shores of Lake Erie, and about the 
falls of Niagara; and by Dr. Barton, who supposed it to form the 
bed on which the rock of the falls rests. 

He quotes him as follows : " Did not that smell of liver sul- 
phur imparted to the water and sand vomited up from the bowels 
of the earth, through great chinks, originate from the stratum of 
schist, which we found at Niagara beneath the limestone, and 
which, when submitted to the action of fire, emits a strong smell 
of sulphur V s 

It is true, says Volney, that this is but one of the elements 
of the substance mentioned, composing schist, but an accurate 
analysis might detect the error. This stratum of schist is found 
under the bed of the Hudson, and appears in many places in the 
States of New-York and Pennsylvania, among the sandstones 
and granites; and we have reason to presume that it exists round 
Lake Ontario^ and beneath Lake Erie, and consequently that it 
forms one of the floors of the country, in which was-^rre principal 
focus of the earthquakes mentioned by Mr. Williams. The line 
of this focus running northwest and southeast, particularly affec- 
ted the direction of the Atlantic to Lake Ontario. This predilec- 
tion is remarkable on account of the singular structure of this 
lake. The rest of the western lakes, notwithstanding their mag- 
nitude, have no great depth. Lake Erie no where exceeds a 
hundred or a hundred and thirty feet, and the bottom of Lake Su- 
perior is visible in many places. 

The Ontario, on the contrary, is in general very deep, that is 
to say, upwards of forty-five or fifty fathoms, three hundred feet, 
and so on ; and in considerable extent no bottom could be found 
with a line of a» hundred and ten fathoms, which is a fraction less 
than forty rods. 

This is the case in some places near its shores, and these cir- 
cumstances, pretty clearly indicate that the basin of this lake was 
once the crater of a volcano now extinct. This inference is con- 
firmed by the volcanic productions already found on its borders ; 
and no doubt the experienced eye will discover many more, by 
examining the form of the great talus, or slope, that surrounds 
this lake almost circularly, and announces in all parts, to the eye 



366 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

as well as to the understanding, that formerly the flat of Niagara 
extended almost as far as the middle of Lake Ontario, where it 
was sunk and swallowed up by the action of a volcano, then in its 
vigor. 

The existence of this subterranean fire accords perfectly with 
the earthquakes mentioned by Williams, as above, and these two 
agents, which we find here united, while they confirm on tfee one 
hand, that of a grand subterranean focus, at an unknown depth, 
on the other afford a happy and plausible explanation of the con- 
fusion of all the strata of the earth and stones, which occurs 
throughout the Atlantic coast. It explains, too, why the calcare- 
ous and even granite strata there, are inclined in the horizon in 
angles of forty-five degrees and upward, even as far as eighty, 
almost perpendicular or endwise, their fragments remaining in the 
vacuities formed by the vast explosions. To this fracture of the 
stratum of granite, are owing its little cascades; and this fact in- 
dicates that formerly the focus extended south beyond the Poto- 
mac, as also does this stratum. No doubt it communicated with 
that of the West India islands. 

As favoring this supposition of Monsieur Volney, we recollect 
the dreadful earthquakes of 1811 and 1812, on the Mississippi, in 
the very neighborhood of the country supposed to have been the 
scenes of the effects of those early shocks, of probably the same 
internal cause, working now beneath the continent, and sooner or 
later may make again the northern parts of it its place of venge- 
ance, instead of the more southerly, as among the Andes, and the 
Cordilleras of South America. 

The earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 took place at New Madrid, 
on the Mississippi, where its effects were dreadful, having thrown 
up vast heaps of earth, destroying the whole plain upon which that 
town was laid out. Houses, gardens, and the fields were swal- 
lowed up. Many of the inhabitants were forced to flee, exposed 
to the horrors of the scenes passing around, and to the inclemen- 
cies of the storms, without shelter or protection. The earth 
rolled under their feet, like the waves of the sea. The shocks 
of this subterranean convulsion were felt two hundred miles 
around. 

And, further, in evidence of the action of volcanic fires in the 
west of this country, we have the following, from Dr. Beck's 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 367 

Gazetteer of Illinois : — " I visited Fort Clarke in 1820, and ob- 
tained a specimen of native copper in its vicinity. It weighed 
about two pounds, and is similar to that found on Lake Superior, 
of which the following description was given at the mint of Utrecht 
in the Netherlands, at the request of Dr. Eustis. " From every 
appearance, that piece of copper seems to have been taken from 
a mass that had undergone fusion. The melting was, however, 
not an operation of art, but a natural effect caused by a volcanic 
eruption. 

"The stream of lava probably carried in its course the aforesaid 
body of copper, that formed into one collection as fast as it was 
heated enough to run from all parts of the mine. The united mass 
was probably borne in this manner to the place where it rested 
in the soil. Thus we see that even America, in its northern 
parts, as well as many parts of the old world, as it is called, has 
felt the shock of that engine, which is, comparatively speaking, 
boundless in power, capable of new modelling the face of whole 
tracts of country, in a few days, if not hours. 

That many parts of the western country- have once been the 
scene of the devastating power of volcanos, is also maintained by 
that distinguished philosopher, Rafinesque. — (See Atlantic Jour- 
nal, No. 4, p. 138, 1832.) 

If by this agent water is thrown out from the bowels of the earth, 
so as to change the entire surface of large districts in many parts 
of the old world, why not in America, if the tokens of such oper- 
ations are found here ? 

Volney was the first to call Lake Ontario a volcano, and to 
notice our ancient mountain lakes, now dried up by eruptions or 
convulsions, each having a breach or water gap. I am induced 
to amplify his views, by deeming nearly all our lakes as so many 
volcanic outlets, which have not merely thrown water in later pe- 
riods, but in more ancient periods have formed nearly all our se- 
condary strata, by eruptions of muddy water, mud, clay, liquid 
coal, basalts, trap. This was when the ocean covered yet the 
land. 

Submarine or oceanic volcanos exist as yet every where in the 
ocean, and their effects are known. They must of course be hol- 
low outlets under water, that would become lakes if the ocean was 
dried up. We can form an idea of their laige number and extent 



368 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

by the late but natural discovery, that all the Lagoon islands, and 
circular clusters of islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian 
oceans, are volcanic craters. This is now admitted, even in En- 
gland ; and the coral reef often crowning those clusters are later 
superincumbent formations by insects. The Bahama islands, in 
the Atlantic, the Maldives, near India, and the coral islands all 
over the Pacific, are the most striking of these singular volcanic 
clusters, nearly at a level with the ocean. Some of them are of 
immense extent, from sixty to one hundred and fifty miles in cir- 
cuit, or even more. 

Some circular bays and gulfs of the sea appear to be similar, 
differing by having only one breach. The bay of Naples is one 
also, an ancient crater, with islands in front. 

The analogy between lakes and volcanic craters is obvious. 
Almost all fiery craters become lakes filled with water, when their 
igneous activity is spent. 

All springs are smaller outlets of water, while the fumaroles 
and holes oi igneous volcanos are small outlets of smoke, fire, air, 
gases, hot mud, &c. I can perceive no essential difference be- 
tween them or any other eruptive basin, except in degree of ca- 
loric or kind of matter which they emit. They may both be qui- 
escent or in activity. Springs vary as much as volcanos. We 
have few pure springs — they commonly hold mineral substances. 
They are cold, warm, hot, salt, bitter, saline, bituminous, limpid, 
colored, muddy — perpetual or periodical, flowing or spouting, just 
like volcanic outlets. 

Therefore volcanos are properly igneous springs, and springs 
or lakes are aqueous volcanos ! 

Under this view, we have no lack of volcanic outlets in North 
America, since one half of it, the whole boreal portion, from New 
England and Labrador in the east to North Oregon and Alaska in 
the west, and from Lake Erie to the boreal ocean, is filled with 
them, being eminently a region of lakes and springs, covered with 
ten thousand lakes at least. 

To these as well as to the dry lakes of our mountains, the lime 
stone craters and sinks, may be traced as the original outlets of 
our last formations, in a liquid state, under the ocean, embedding 
our fossils. The basaltic, trapic, and carbonic formations have 
the same origin, since they are intermingled. But some kinds 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 369 

of sands and clays have been ejected since this continent became 
dry land. To trace all these formations to their sources, deline- 
ate their streams or banks, ascertain their ages and ravage on or- 
ganized beings, will require time, assiduty, zeal and accurate ob- 
servations. 

What connection there is between lakes or dry basins of pri- 
mitive regions and their formations, is not well ascertained. — 
Some are evidently the produce of crystalization ; but others, 
forming streams, veins, banks and ridges, may have been ejected 
in a fluid or soft state, before organic life had begun, and thus 
spread into their actual shapes. Many streams of primitive 
limestone, anthracite, wacke, grit, are probably so formed and 
expanded. Hollows in the primitive ocean must have been the 
outlets of these substances, now become lakes, after the land be- 
came dry. 

The power which raises and ejects out of the bowels of the 
earth watery, muddy and solid substances, either cold or inflamed, 
is one of the secrets of nature; but we know that such a power or 
cause exists, since we see it in operation. Water rises in lakes 
and springs much above the level of the ocean, while the Caspian 
sea is under that level. There is then no uniform level for water 
on the globe, nor uniform aerial pressure over them. Another 
cause operates within the bowels of the earth to generate and ex- 
pel liquid and solid substances — perhaps many causes and powers 
are combined there; galvinism is probably one of the main agents. 
A living power of organic circulation would explain many earthly 
phenomena. 

Considering,, therefore, the omnipotency of the two agents, 
fire and water, so created by Him who is more omnipotent, 
what changes of surface and of inhabitants may not have taken 
place in the western regions, as well as in other parts of Ame- 
rica. 

We cannot close this subject better than by introducing an 
Arabian fable, styled the Revolutions of Time. The narrator is 
supposed to have lived three thousund years on the earth, and 
to have travelled much in the course of his life, and to have 
noted down the various changes which took place with respect 
to the surface of the globe in many places, and to have been 

24 



370 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIE8 

conversant with the various generations of men that succeeded 
each other. 

This fable we consider illustrative of the antiquities of all coun- 
tries, as well as of the changes which have most certainly taken 
place in our own, as it relates to surface and inhabitants. The 
name of the traveller was Khidr, and his story is as follows: 

I was passing, says Khidr, a populous city, and I asked one of 
the inhabitants, " How long has this city been built V 9 But he 
said, "This city is an ancient city; we know not at what time it 
was built : neither we nor our fathers. 

Then I passed by after five hundred years, and no trace of the 
city was to be seen ; but I found a man gathering herbs, and I 
asked him, " How long has this city been destroyed ?" But he 
said, " The country has always been thus." And I said, " But 
there was a city here." Then he said, " We have seen no city 
here, nor have we heard of such from our fathers." 

After five hundred years, I again passed that way, and found 
a lake, and met there a company of fishermen, and asked them, 
" When did this land become a lake V 9 And they said, " How 
can a man like you ask such a question ? The place was never 
other than it is." But heretofore, said I, it was dry land. And 
they said, " We never saw it so, nor heard of it from our fa- 
thers." 

Then after five hundred years I returned, and behold the lake 
was dried up; and I met a solitary man, and said to him, "When 
did this spot become dry land V 9 And he said, " It was always 
thus." But formerly, said I, it was a lake; and he said, " We 
never say it, nor heard of it before." 

And five hundred years afterwards I again passed by, and again 
found a populous and beautiful city, and finer than I had at 
first seen it ; and I asked one of the inhabitants, " When was 
this city built V 9 And he said, " Truly it is an ancient place, 
and we know not the date of its building, neither we nor our 
fathers." 

The human race has every where experienced terrible revolu- 
tions. Pestilence, wars and the convulsions of the globe, have 
annihilated the proudest works, and rendered vain the noblest ef- 
forts of rrlan. 

"Ask not the sage when and by whom were erected those lin- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 



371 



gering ruins of the west, the imperishable memorials of ages long 
since swallowed up in the ocean of time ; ask not the wild Arab 
where may be found the owner of the superb palace, within whose 
broken walls he casts his tent; ask not the poor fisherman, as he 
spreads his nets, or the ploughman who whistles over the fields, 
where is Carthage? where is Troy? of whose splendor historians 
and poets have so much boasted. Alas! they have vanished from 
the things that be, and have left but the melancholy lesson of the 
instability of the most stupendous labors of our race." 



Remarks on Geology. 

The evidence that the globe has undergone many and dread- 
ful convulsions, appears from its confused strata of rock, the 
undermost or primitive, called granite, appearing, frequently, 
above those of a secondary or later formation ; yet by no means 
dare we come to the sacrilegious and all-astounding doctrine, 
arrived at by modern geologists, — which is, that many ages 
and revolutions of the globe had transpired before the creation of 
man. And also, that several eras of creation had taken place 
before that event, instead of one, as we are instructed in the scrip- 
tures. 

To show that such conclusions are arrived at by geologists, 
we quote the following from the pages of the Penny Magazine, a 
highly popular periodical, issued from the press in London, under 
the direction of several of the nobility of that country of highly 
scientific character. — (See No. 70, for 1833, p. 178.) 

" Fossils , by which is understood the petrified remains of ani- 
mals, as their bones; also plants, shells, tortoises, fishes and ve- 
getable remains, as timber, leaves, branches, ferns, mosses, &c.„ 
all of which are found in various parts embedded in rocks, clay, 
gravel, and other strata of the globe. These, found as they are, 
reveal to us the important and wonderful fact, that the author of 
nature had created different species of animals and plants at sev- 
eral successive and widely distant periods of time, and that many 



372 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

of those which existed in earlier ages of our globe had become 
totally extinct before the creation of others of different characters 
in later periods; that prior to man being called into existence, in- 
numerable species of living beings had covered the surface of the 
earth, for a series of ages. 

"We farther learn that a very great portion of those creatures 
of the later periods had become extinct, and had been replaced by 
others. When that great event, the creation of man, took place, 
the crust of the earth had already undergone numerous changes 
that appear to us to afford indisputable evidences of design — to be 
evidences the most clear of the establishment of an order of things 
adapted to the predetermined nature of that more perfect creature 
about to be sent as an inhabitant of the globe, to whom was to be 
given " dominion over the fishes of the sea, and over the fowls of 
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth." — (Scripture. 
See Genesis.) 

" We are j also taught by the study of fossils, that prior to the 
creation of man, there had existed a totally different condition of 
our planet, in so far as regards the distribution of land and water, 
from that which now exists; that where there are now continents 
there must have been deep seas, and that extensive tracts of land 
must have occupied those parts of the globe now covered by the 
ocean. 77 

Respecting this their opinion, however, we think that many of 
those appearances which indicate that once the waters of the ocean 
covered even the highesrranges of mountains,are to be accounted 
for from the fact, that the Noachian deluge surmounted fifteen 
cubits and upwards, the highest parts of the earth, and that then 
those deposits of marine shells and bones of land and sea animals 
took place. 

As singular as it may appear, we announced to the reader that 
the authors of those opinions which go to establish the existence of 
an animal creation, and of its duration for many ages before the 
time of Adam, affect also to believe the scriptures ; as above it is 
seen that they quote from that book the circumstance of man's 
dominion over all animals, and over all the earth. If, therefore, 
they believe that book, how is it they go about to contradict the 
account it gives of the creation of the earth, as to the time expen- 
ded in its creation, and as to the era when k was created? 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 373 

They, that is the geologists, say that several ages had passed 
away before man was created, but Moses says that but five days 
had transpired, when on the sixth the man was created ; and to 
fix the meaning of the terms six days, as to their actual amount 
of time, we have only to remember that on that circumstance, "in 
six days God made the heavens and the earth," was predicated 
the seven days cycle of time, called a week, which by Jewish and 
Christian nations have always been observed. The very obliga- 
tion of working six days and of resting on the seventh, was found- 
ed on the fact that in six days God made the heavens and earth, 
and rested on the seventh. How, then, can it be that immense 
periods and ages of time had rolled away before the creation of 
man ? If we believe the account, as written under the direction 
of celestial inspiration, by what rule is six times twenty-four 
hours capable of being attenuated to the length of many ages or 
periods'? 

If the six days spoken of in the Scripture, as being the founda- 
tion of the Sabbath, and of its observance, are not literally so, 
then is the Sabbath founded in falsehood, and cannot be morally 
binding on any man since the world began : he, therefore, who 
can attack the ten commandments, and drive one of them out of 
being, at a blow, cannot be supposed as filial to the Scriptures, 
which give a circumstancial account of the time, duration, and 
manner of the creation. 

This geological or stone argument respecting the age of the 
earth is certainly preposterous, or the account in Genesis, of the 
creation, is a fable. We, therefore, consider their deductions, 
that is the authors of the remarks as above recited from the Penny 
Magazine, but a new and elaborate yet covert mode of overturn- 
ing the' character of the Bible, and should be watched with a jea- 
lous eye by the scientific, among those who do believe the Scrip- 
tures. 

The kinds of animals., according to John Mason Good, wjiose 
species seem now to be extinct, and whose remains are found em- 
bedded in the rock of the second formation, are not such as had 
bones, but mere worms, insects and shells of the sea, and certain 
kinds of vegetation, all of the lowest links in the scale of either 
animal or vegetable organization. This is important to our views 
of this subject ; becausa, if in this second stratum, which lies on 



374 AMERIGAN ANTIQUITIES (| 

the first or lowermost, or primitive rock, there are no remains of 
animals which either walked on the earth, or flew in the air, or 
swam in the sea, it goes far to disprove the theory of geologists, 
respecting the passing away of several ages, before man was 
made ; as such kinds of fossils are soon produced, and soon em- 
bedded. 

But in the third formation of rock, of the kind denominated 
Jlotez, or flat rock, of which there are several kinds, are found 
the fossil bones of large animals, in great abundance, with those 
of vegetation also. The remains of all animals so discovered are 
of the kinds well known, except in a few instances, as belonging 
to animals not extinct. In this very rock of the third and last 
formation, in its lowest parts, are found the remains of fishes, 
tortoises and shells, though much mutilated, which circumstance 
goes very far in favor of this formation of stratum having been 
produced since the flood, its foundation being laid at that time, — 
while the bones of land animals lie embedded above them, and of- 
ter miRgled. 

Next above this, are the alluvial deposits, containing fossils, 
which are found all over the globe, at certain places. In this 
are found the bones of the largest kinds of animals, some of 
which are unknown, but were quadrupeds of the largest magni- 
tudes. 

The same kinds, however, are found also embedded in stone of 
the third class in local situations, and produced by local causes, 
as the sudden submergency of a certain place, by the disruption 
of a sea, lake or rivers, involving the destruction of a great num- 
ber of animals, both of land and water, which have in certain 
places been found. 

Such are the fossils found in the composite rocks, that fill 
up the great basin around Paris ; the celebrated quarries of Al- 
ningen, on the Rhine, — which, says Good, have been erroneously 
regarded of the same antiquity as Werner's universal forma- 
tions of the kind, found in the third class of rocks, as before spe- 
cified. 

Now as these remains consist in a good degree of animals 
known, it is an evidence that this very stratum has been formed 
since the flood ; because the chief argument which supports the 
theory of several ages having passed away, before the creation 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 375 

of Adam, rests on the strata of those ages containing altogether 
unknown animals, and these nothing but worms and insects of the 
waters. 

That the bones of large animals should be thus found in solid 
rocks of the third formation, and to have become such since the 
flood, is not incredible, as nearly four thousand years have passed 
away since that era. And suppose the animals whose fossils are 
found in local situations, were involved by the disruption of the 
waters of some lake or inland sea, a thousand years since the 
flood; even then, time enough has long ago transpired for the for- 
mation of this stratum. 

If so, it is then a clear case that- such animals, both of land and 
water, as were killed by the flood may have contributed solely to 
the fossil formations, which are considered universal, and distin- 
guished from those which are local and later. 

The bones of those immense animals, which by geologists are 
supposed to have inhabited the earth before the time of Adam, 
may be nothing more than sea animals, the species of which may 
even now exist; for who will pretend to an acquaintance with all 
the inhabitants which feed on the pastures covering the bottom of 
the great deep ? The bones of these were, doubtless, thrown 
over the earth by the flood, and mingled with those of land ani- 
mals, and where the kind of earth favored the formation of rock, 
they are found ; while others have crumbled to earth, not so de- 
posited. 

We see no necessity of this dream about ages antecedent to 
the time of man's creation. The hypothesis is not called for, as 
time enough since that time has transpired, to produce all the ap- 
pearances of the fossil kind belonging to geology. 

But in all the excavations which have hitherto been made, and 
among all the fossil discoveries, the bones of man have not been 
found embedded in rock of the third formation. But this is not 
to say they never will be found, in some future excavations. — 
We should naturally expect to find this kind of fossil, as it is 
certain the earth was populous with men before the flood. This 
we learn, from a remarkable passage to this effect, found in 
Genesis, several times repeated, at chapter vi., verses 11, 12 and 
13. " The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was 
Ailed with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold 



376 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

it was corrupt. And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is 
come before me ; for the earth is filled with violence." How, 
therefore, could this be, unless it was filled with inhabitants of our 
race ? 

If many parts of the earth which was dry land before the flood 
is now ocean, it at once cuts off the opportunity of geological re- 
search in a great measure^ and lessens the chance of finding fos- 
sil bones of the human subject. Again, all such of the race, 
whose bones may have sunk down into the soft and miry earth, 
while covered by the flood, and did not chance to be covered by 
those kinds of stratum convertible into stone, would of course re- 
turn to mould or earth, as it was, and therefore cannot be distin- 
guished. 

Now as strata of any kind are extremely rare, which contain 
the bones of animals, it is not very singular that they are-not found, 
and the circumstance can never be used as a proof against the 
flood of .Noah. 

It is dangerous to inculcate opinions which go to overthrow the 
confidence men have in the Scriptures. The moment this is 
done, the depraved mind feels itself lightened of a monstrous bur- 
den. It is far better and more becoming us^ that " God be true, 
and every man a liar." The dreams of the geologist figure but 
poorly in competition with heaven about the origin of things, and 
the manner of creation. 

Were the doctrine true, that several ages had transpired before 
the reputed time of the creation of Adam, in which the globe had 
been populous with animals, we only should ascertain that all 
that trouble was, so far as we are able to perceive, for nothing, — 
as there could be no possible use in their existence, except to de- 
vour each other, and to return to earth as they were. The works 
of God are always presented to us, being complete from their 
foundation to their climax. But man being not among the num- 
ber of his works at first, on this hypothesis, shows thereby a lack 
of perfection, so far as concerns the operations of his hands, in 
the early and supposed ages of the planet. 

The existence of the globe even now,with all its animals of land 
and sea, with all its phenomena of arrangement, could bring no 
praise, no glory to the Creator, without a man, or some order of 
intellectual beings, who should be able to admire, and to adore,* 






AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 377 

through his works, the author. Through man, all animals praise 
God; but without him, they are as though they had not been : to 
this view even the Scriptures would seem to agree, and to speak 
of it much in the same way. (See Rev. v. 13.) "And every 
creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, 
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I say- 
ing, Blessing, honor, glory and power be unto him that sitteth up- 
on the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." But with- 
out man, this voice, so far as creation is concerned, besides the 
man, could never have ascended, as there could have been no 
medium through which God could have received praise — no pos- 
sible way, that his multifarious operations should in the least be 
appreciated, without such a being as man is, having a reasonable 
soul, and^powers of perception suited to his station. 

But if we believe the account as related by Moses, we perceive 
that man and animals were made at the same time, with the 
exception of but a few hours, so that this head of creation was 
not wanting in the very outset of time. But, on the contrary, 
if we suppose, with those of the geological school, that more time, 
immensely more than has elapsed since the days of Adam, had 
passed away before, then are we met at every turn, with this in- 
superable incongruity, of a creation without a head. 



History of America. 

The following is from the pen of the late William Wirt, of 
Virginia, on the subject of the ancient inhabitants of this coun- 
try : — 

Mr. Flint and other travellers and sojourners in the west, state 
that the impress of the leaves of the bread fruit tree, and the 
bamboo, have frequently been found in peat beds, and fossil coal 
formations, in the neighborhood of the Ohio. Pebbles of disrup- 
tion, vast masses of lead ore far from the mine, stratified rocks, 
earth and sands, specimens of organic animal and vegetable re- 
mains, belonging to a tropical climate, clearly indicate some im- 



378 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

portant and extensive changes, occasioned by fire or water, in the 
whole great valley of the Mississippi. Then the regular wa^ls, 
the bricks, the medals, the implements of iron and copper, buried 
in a soil which must have been undisturbed for ages, with the al- 
phabetic characters written on the cliffs, as plainly show that other 
races of men have existed and passed away. And what a world 
must that have been, when the mammoth and the megolonyx trod 
the plains, and monstrous lizards, whose bones are now rescued 
from the soil, and which must have been at least eighty feet in 
length, reared their heads from the rivers and the lakes ! 

The mighty remains of the past, to which we have alluded, in- 
dicate the existence of three distinct races of men, previous to the 
arrival of the existing white settlers. 

The monuments of the first or primitive race, are regular stone 
walls, wells stoned up, brick hearths, found in digging the Louis- 
ville canal, medals of copper, and silver swords, and other imple- 
ments of iron. Mr. Flint assures us that he has seen these strange 
ancient swords. He has also examined a small iron shoe, like a 
horse shoe, encrusted with the rust of ages, and found far below 
the soil, and the copper axe, weighing about two pounds, singu- 
larly tempered, and of peculiar construction. 

These relics, he thinks, belonged to a race of civilized men, 
who must have disappeared many centuries ago. To this race he 
attributes the hieroglyphic characters found on the limestone 
bluffs ; the remains of cities and fortifications of Florida; the 
regular banks of ancient live oaks near them, and the bricks 
found at Louisville, nineteen feet below the surface, in regular 
hearths, with the coals of the last domestic fire upon them: these 
bricks were hard and regular, and longer in proportion to their 
width than those of the present day. 

To the second race of beings are attributed the vast mounds of 
earth, found throughout the whole western region, from Lake 
Erie and west Pennsylvania to Florida and the Rocky mountains. 
Some of them contain skeletons of human beings, and display 
immense labor. Many of them are regular mathematical figures 
— parallelograms and sections of circles^ showing the remains of 
gateways and subterranean passages. Some of them are eighty 
feet high, and have trees grown on them apparently of the age of 
five hundred years. They are generally of a soil differing from 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 379 

that which surrounds them, and they are most common in situa- 
tions where it since has been found convenient to build towns and 
cities. 

One of these mounds was levelled in the centre of Chillicothe, 
and cart loads of human bones removed from it. Another may 
be seen in Cincinnati, in which a thin circular piece of gold, al- 
loyed with copper, was found last year. Another in St. Louis, 
called the falling garden, is pointed out to strangers, as a great 
curiosity. 

Many fragments of earthen ware, some of curious workman- 
ship, have been dug throughout this vast region — some represent- 
ed drinking vessels, some human heads, and some idols. They 
all appear to be moulded by the hand, and hardened in the sun. 
These mounds and eaithen implements indicate a race inferior to 
the first, which was acquainted with the use of iron. 

The third race are the Indians, now existing in the western 
territories. In the profound silence and solitude of these western 
regions, and above the bones of a buried world, how must a phi- 
losophic traveller meditate upon the transitory state of human ex- 
istence, when the only traces of the being of two races of men are 
these strange memorials ! On this very spot, generation after 
generation has stood, has lived, has warred, grown old and pass- 
ed away; and not only their names, but their nation, their lan- 
guage has perished, and utter oblivion has closed over their once 
populous abodes I We call this country the New World. It is 
old ! Age after age, and one physical revolution after another, 
has passed over it, but who shall tell its history ? 



Resemblance, of the Western Indians to the Ancient Greeks. 

The reader will recollect we have shown before,, that the 
Greek fleet once moored on the cost of Brazil, in South America, 
said to be the fleet of Alexander the Great, and also the supposed 
Greek carving, or sculpture, in the cave on the Ohio river. 



380 AMERICAxN ANTIQUITIES 

In addition, we give from Mr. Volney's View of America, his 
comparison of the ancient Greek tribes with the tribes of the west- 
ern Indians. He says, the limits of his work would not allow him 
to enter into all the minutiae of this interesting subject ; and there- 
fore should content himself with saying, that the more deeply we 
examine the history and way of savage life, the more ideas we ac- 
quire that illustrate the nature of man in general, the gradual for- 
mation of societies, and the character and manners of the nations 
of antiquity. 

While this author was among the Indians of the west, he was 
particularly struck with the analogy between the savages of North 
America and the so much vaunted ancient nations of Greece and 
Italy. In the Greeks of Homer, particularly in those of his Iliad, 
he found the customs and manners of the Iroquois,, Deleware, and 
Miamis, strikingly exemplified. The tragedies of Sophocles and 
Euripides, paint almost literally the sentiments of the red men re- 
specting necessity, fatality, the miseries of human life, and the 
rigor of blind destiny. But the piece most remarkable for variety, 
combination of features and resemblance, is the beginning of 
the history of Thucydides, in which he briefly traces the habits 
and way of life of the Greeks, before and after the Trojan war, 
up to the age in which he wrote. This fragment of their history 
appears so well adapted, that we are persuaded the reader will be 
pleased at having.it laid before him, so that he can make the com- 
parison for himself. 

"It is certain that the rigion now known by the name of Greece, 
was not formerly possessed by any fixed inhabitants, but was sub- 
ject to frequent migrations, as constantly every distinct people or 
tribe yielded up their seats to the violence of a larger supervening 
number. But, as to commerce, there was none, and mutual fear 
prevented intercourse, both by land and sea ; as then the only 
view of culture was barely to procure a penurious subsistence, as 
superfluous wealth was a thing unknown* 7 ' 

"Planting was not their employment, it being uncertain how 
soon an invader might come and dislodge them from their unfor- 
tified habitations ; and as they thought they might every where 
find their daily support, they hesitated but little about shifting their 
habitations. And for this reason they never flourished in the 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 381 

greatness of their cities, or any other circumstance of power. — 
But the richest tracts of country were ever more particularly lia- 
ble to this frequent change of inhabitants, such as that now called 
Thessaly and Boeotia, and Peloponesus chiefly, except Arcadia, 
and in general the most fertile parts of Greece. For the natural 
wealth of their soil, in particular districts, increased the power of 
some amongst them ; that power raised civil dissension, which 
ended in their ruin, and at the same time exposed them more to 
foreign attacks." 

It was only the barrenness of the soil that preserved Attica 
through the longest space of time, quiet, and undisturbed, in one 
uninterrupted series of possessors. One, and not the least convinc- 
ing proof of this is, that other parts of Greece, because of the 
fluctuating condition of the iuhabitants, could by no means, in 
their growth keep pace with Attica. The most powerful of those 
who were driven from the other parts of Greece, by war or sedi- 
tion, betook themselves to the Athenians for secure refuge, and as 
they obtained the privilege of citizens, have constantly, from re- 
mote time, continued to enlarge that city with fresh accessions of 
inhabitants ; insomuch, that, at last, Attica, being insufficient to 
support its numbers, they sent over colonies to Ionia. 

The custom of wearing weapons, once prevailed all over Greece, 
as their houses had no manner of defence, as travelling was full 
of hazard, and their whole lives were passed in armour, like bar- 
barians. A proof of this, is the continuance still, in some parts of 
Greece, of those manners, which were once, with uniformity, com- 
mon to all. The Athenians were the first who discontinued the 
custom of wearing their swords, and who passed from the savage 
life into more polite and elegant manners. Sparta is not closely 
built ; the temples and public edifices by no means sumptuous, 
and the houses detached from each other, after the old mode of 
Greece. 

In their war manners they resemble the Indians of America, for 
after a certain engagement they had with an enemy, and being 
victorious, they erected a trophy upon Leucinna, a promontory 
of Corcyra, and put to death all the prisoners they had taken, ex- 
cept one who was a Corinthian. 

The pretended golden age of those nations was nothing better 
than to wander naked in the forests of Hellas and Thessaly, lir- 



382 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ing on herbs and acorns ; by which we perceive that the ancient 
Greeks were truly savages of the same kind as those in America, 
and placed in nearly similar circumstances of climate, since 
Greece covered with forests, was then much colder than at pres- 
ent. Hence we infer, that the name of Pelasgian, believed to be- 
long to one and the same people, wandering and dispersed about 
from the Crimea to the Alps, was only the generic appellation of 
the savage hordes of the first inhabitants, roaming in the same 
manner as the Hurons and Algonquins, or as the old Germans 
and Celts. 

And we should presume, with reason, that colonies of foreign- 
ers, farther advanced in civilization, coming from the coast of 
Asia, Phoenicia, and even Egypt, and settling on those of Greece 
and Latium, had nearly the same kind of intercourse with these 
aborigines ; sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile ; as the first 
English settlers in Virginia and New-England had with the Amer- 
ican savages. 

By these comparisons we should explain both the intermixture 
and disappearance of some of those nations, the manners and cus- 
toms of those inhospitable times, when every stranger was an en- 
my, and every robber a hero ; when there was no law but force, 
and no virtue but bravery in war ; when every tribe was a nation, 
and every assemblage of huts a metropolis. 

In this period of anarchy and disorder, of savage life, we should 
see the origin of that character of pride and boasting, perfidious- 
ness and cruelty, dissimulation and injustice, sedition and tyranny, 
that the Greeks display throughout the whole course of their his- 
tory ; we should perceive the source of those false ideas of virtue 
and glory, sanctioned by the poets and orators of those ferocious 
days ; who have made war and its melancholy trophies, the lofti- 
est aim of man's ambition, the most shining road to renown, and 
the most dazzling object of ambition to the ignorant and cheated 
multitude. And since the polished and civilized people of Christ- 
endom have made a point of imitating these nations, and consider 
their politics and morals, like their poetry and arts, the types of 
all perfection ; it follows that our ho.mage, our patronage, and 
veneration, are addressed to the manners and spirit of barbarous 
and savage times. 






AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 



383 



The grounds of comparison are so true, that the analogy reach- 
es even to their philosopical and religious opinions ; for all the 
principles of the stoic school of the Greeks, are found in the prac- 
tice of the American savages ; and if any should lay hold of this 
circumstance to impute to the savages the merit of being philoso- 
phers, we retort the supposition, and say, we ought, on the contra- 
ry, to conclude, that a state of society, in which precepts so re- 
pugnant to human nature were invented for the purpose of ren- 
dering life supportable, must have been an order of things, and of 
government, not less miserable than the savage state. This opin- 
ion is supported by the whole history of these Grecian times, even 
in their most brilliant periods, and by the uninterrupted series of 
their own wars, seditions, massacres, and tyrannical proscrip- 
tions, down to the time of their subjugation , by those other sava- 
ges of Italy, called the Romans ; who, in their character,- politics, 
and aggrandizement, have a striking resemblance to the Six Na- 
tions. 

With regard to religious notions, these do not form a regular 
system among the savages, because every individual in his inde- 
pendent state, makes himself a creed after his own fancy. If we 
may judge from the accounts of the historians of the first settlers, 
and those of late travellers in the northwest, it appears that the 
Indians compose their mythology in the following manner : 

First : a Great Manitau, or superior being ; who governs the 
earth and the sereal meteors, the visible whole of which constitutes 
the universe of a savage. This Great Manitau residing on high, 
without his having any clear idea, who rules the world, without 
giving himself much trouble ; sends rain, wind, or fair weather, 
according to his fancy ; sometimes makes a noise, which is the 
thunder, to amuse himself ; concerns himself as little about the 
affairs of men as about those of other living beings that people the 
earth ; does good, without taking any thought about it ; suffers ill 
to be perpetrated without its disturbing his repose, and in the 
mean time, leaves the world to a destiny, or fatality, the laws of 
which are anterior, and paramount to all things. 

Under his command are subordinate Manitaus, or genii, innu- 
merable, who peeple earth and air, preside over every thing that 
happens, and have each a separate employment. Of these genii, 
some are good ; and these do all the good that takes place in na- 



384 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

ture ; others are bad, and these occasion all the evil that happens to 
living beings. 

It is ,to the latter chiefly, and almost exclusively, that the savag- 
es address their prayers, their propitiatory offerings, and what re- 
ligious worship they have ; the object of which is, to appease the 
malice of these manitaus^ as men appease the ill humor of morose, 
bad men. This fear of genii is one of their most habitual thought, 
and that by which they are most tormented. Their most intrepid 
warriors are, in this respect, no better than their women ; a dream, 
a phantom seen at night in the woods, or a sinister cry, equally 
alarms their credulous, superstitious minds. 

Their magicians^ or as we more properly call thern, jugglers, 
pretend to very familiar intercourse with these genii ; they are, 
however, greatly puzzled to explain their nature, form and aspect. 
Not having our ideas of pure spirit, they suppose them to be com- 
posed of substances, yet light, volatile and invisible, true shadows 
and manes, after the manner of the ancients. Sometimes they 
select some one of these genii, whom they suppose to reside in a 
tree, a serpent, a rock, a cataract, and this they make their ietih, 
or god, to which they resort, like the African. The notion of 
another life, is a pretty general belief among the savages. They 
imagine that after. death they shall go into another climate and 
country, where game and fish abound, where they can hunt with- 
out being fatigued, walk about without fear of an enemy, eat very 
fut meat, and live without care or trouble. The Indians of the 
north, place this climate toward the southwest, because the summer 
winds, and the most pleasing and genial temperature, come from 
that quarter. 

This sketch of Indian manners, is supposed sufficient by Mr. 
Volney, to prove that there is a real analogy between the mytho- 
logical ideis of the Indians of North America and those of the 
Asiatic Tartars, as they have been described by the learned Rus- 
siens, who have visited them not many years since. 

The analogy between them and the nations of the Greeks, is 
equally evident. We discern the Great Manitau of the savages, 
in the Jupiter of the heroic ages, or their savage times ; with this 
difference only, that the Manitau of the Americans, leads a melan- 
choly, poor, and wearisome life, like themselves ; while the Jupit- 
er of Homer, and of Hesiod, displays all the magnificence of the 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 385 

court of Hecatompylean Thebes, the wonderful secrets of which 
have been disclosed to us in the present age. See the elegant 
work of Mr. Denon, on the high degree of taste, learning, and 
perfection, at which the arts had arrived in that Thebes, which 
was buried in the night of history, before Greece or Italy were 
known. 

In the lesser Manitaus of the Indians, are equally evident the 
subordinate deities of Greece ; the genii of the woods and foun- 
tains, and the demons honored with a similar superstitious worship. 

The conclusion Yolney draws from all this is, not that the In- 
dians have derived their notions from Greeee, but rather are de- 
rivable from Shamanism, or the Lamic system of Budda, which 
spread itself from Hindostan among all the savages of the old 
world, where it is found even to the extremities of Spain, Scotland 
and Cimbrica. 

Yet as traits of the Grecian nations are found, especially in 
South America, as in the discovery of the subterranean cavity of 
mason work, noticed before, and in the cave on the Ohio, 
it is not impossible, but that from the Greeks, sometime in 
this country before the Indians found their way here, they may 
have communicated their mythological notions to the more an- 
cient inhabitants, from whom the Tartars, or our Indians, when 
they conquered or drove away that people, imbibed their opin- 
ions ; as it is now without precedent, that the conquered have 
given to the conquerer their religion as well as their country. 



Traits of Ancient Romans in America. 

On some of the first pages of this work we have ventured 
the conjecture, that the Romans colonized various parts of Ameri- 
ca. We still imagine such a conjecture by no means impossible, 
as tokens of their presence are evidently yet extant in the vale of 
Mexico. See page 269, where is an account of a temple, which 
was built and dedicated as sacred to the worship of the sun and 
moon. 

25 



396 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Tho religions of nations furnish, it is presumed, the strongest 
possible evidence of origin. On this account, the temples of the 
sun and moon in Mexico, exactly answer to the same object of 
devotion, worshipped by the ancient Romans. 

That they are similar in both countries, we prove from Gibbon's 
Roman empire, page 233, vol. 1st, as follows : — The sun was, 
worshipped at Emesa, by the Romans, under the name of Elaga- 
halus or God, under the form of a black conical stone, which, it was 
universally believed, had fallen from heaven, on that sacred 
place. 

This stone, we observe, was undoubtedly what is termed an sero- 
lithis, a copious account of which is given by Dr. Adam Clarke, 
as being thrown out of the moon by the force of volcanic eruptions 
in that planet, which, as soon as they had passed out of the moon's 
attraction, fell immediately to the earth, being drawn hither by 
the stronger force of the centripetal power. A stone falling to the 
earth under such circumstances, was quite sufficient to challenge 
the adoration of the Pagan nations as coming down from the gods, 
or from the sun, as a representative of that luminary. 

Accordingly, this stone became deified, and was set up to be 
worshipped, as the sun's vicegerent among men. Gibbon says 
that to this protecting deity, the stone, Antonius, not without some 
reason, ascribed his elevation to the throne of the Roman empire. 
The triumph of this stone god over all the religions of the earth, 
was the great object of this emperor's zeal and vanity : and the 
appellation of Elagabalus, which he had bestowed on the aeroli- 
this, was dearer to that emperor than all the titles of imperial 
greatness 

In a solemn procession through the streets of Rome, the way 
was strewed with gold dust : the black stone set in precious gems, 
was placed on a chariot, drawn by six milk white horses, richly 
caparisoned. The pious emperor held the reins, and supported 
by his ministers, moved slowly, with his face toward the image, 
that he might perpetually enjoy the felicity of the divine presence. 

In a magnificent temple, raised on the Palatine mount, the sac- 
rifices of the god Elagabalus were celebrated with every circum- 
stance of cost and solemnity. The richest wines, the most extra- 
ordinary victims, and the rarest aromatics, were profusely con- 
sumed on his altar. Around him a chorus of Syrian damsels per- 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 367 

formed their lascivious dances to the sound of barbarian music, 
whilst the gravest personages of the state and army, clothed in 
long Phoenician tunics, officiated in the meanest functions, with 
affected zeal, and secret indignation. 

To, this temple, as to a common centre of religious worship, the 
imperial fanatic attempted to remove the Ancilia, the Palladium, 
and all the sacred pledges of the faith of Numa. A crowd of in- 
ferior deities attended in various stations, the majesty of the god 
of Emesa, Elagabalus. 

But the court of this god was still imperfect, till a female of dis- 
tinguished rank was admitted to his bed. Pallas had been first 
chosen for his consort ; but as it was dreaded lest her warlike ter- 
rors might affright the soft delicacy of a Syrian deity, the moon 
adored by the Africans, under the name of Astarte, was deemed 
a more suitable companion for the sun. Her image, with the rich 
offerings of her temple as a marriage portion, was transported, with 
solemn pomp, from Carthage to Rome ; and the day of these mys- 
tic nuptials was a general festival in the capital, and throughout 
the empire. 

Here then, at Emesa, in Italy, the Romans worshipped the sun 
and moon ; so did the Mexicans, with equal pomp and costliness, 
in the vale of Mexico. If, therefore, in the two countries, the 
same indentical religion, having the same identical objects of wor- 
ship existed, it would seem no great stretch of credulity, to sup- 
pose them practised by the same people in either country. 

The ancient Romans, or rather the Romans after they had ris- 
en to great consequence, and had founded and built many cities, 
were remarkable in one particular, and this was in the construction 
of a grand national road, of 3740 English miles in length. This 
national road issued from the Forum of Rome, traversed Italy, 
pervaded the provinces and terminated only by the frontiers of 
the empire, and was divided off into distinct miles, by stones being 
set up at the termination of each, as in the present times. 

The same was the case with the ancient people of South Amer- 
ica, in the times of the Incas ; who, as Humboldt informs us, had 
one grand road, which is even traceable at the present time, of a 
thousand miles in length, running along the high ground of the 
Cordilleras, and was paved with large flat stones the whole 
length. 



388 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES,' 

In this very respect, that is, of paving their roads with large 
stones, the Romans and the South Americans were alike. For 
Gibbon says, that in the construction of the Roman national high- 
way, they not only perforated mountains, raised bold arches over 
the broadest and most rapid streams, but paved it with large stones 
and in some places even with granite. 

In another respect they are alike ; the Romans raised this road 
so as to be able to overlook the country as it was travelled ; so also 
did the Americans., in choosing the high grounds of the Cordilleras 
to build it upon. 

It would seem also, that in the very construction of their cities, 
towns and palaces, as found scattered over many parts of South 
America, even along on the coast of the Pacific, according to 
Humboldt and more recent researches, they modelled them in some 
sense, after the manner of the Romans ; especially in the vastness 
of their capacity, or area which they occupied. 

However, it is clear, that as the American architecture did not 
partake of the refinement of taste in the finish of their buildings, 
which characterise those of the Roman, that they, the former, are 
the elder of the two ; and that the American nations in the persons 
of their ancestors, came from Africa, and about the country of the 
Mediterranean, in the very first age of their improvement, or de- 
parture from barbarism. From all this it cannot but be inferred, 
that the continent is indebted to that part of the old world for that 
class of inhabitants, who introduced among the first nations of the 
continent, the arts as found in practice by Columbus, when he 
landed on its shores. 

With this view, we think there is light thrown on the curious 
subject of the Mexican tradition, with respect to the white and 
bearded men before spoken of in this volume ; who, as they say, 
came among them from the rising sun, and become their legisla- 
tors. And as the Romans were a maritime people, and had become 
refined long before the savages of the north of Europe, and made, 
according to Gibbon, prodigious voyages, they may have been the 
very people who colonized the islands of Jesso and Japan, who 
were a white and bearded race, from whom, in another part of this 
work, we have supposed these Mexican legislators may have been 
derived. In either case there is no difficulty ; the origin is the 
same. 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST- 



369 



We are firm in the belief that the Carthaginians, Phoenicians, 
Persians, Hindoos, Chinese, Japanese, Roman and Greek nations 
of antiquity, and others, have had more to do in the peopling of the 
wilds of America, as well also as the Europeans, after their civil- 
ization, than is generally supposed. 

There was found among the nations of Mexico, another trait 
of character strongly resembling a Roman practice ; and this was 
that of single combat with deadly instruments, called the fight of 
the gladiators. This among the Romans was carried to so shame- 
ful and murderous a degree, that Commodus, one of their Emper- 
ors, killed with his own hands, in the course of a few years, as a 
gladiator, seven hundred and thirty-five persons. 

Of this emperor, Gibbon says, that being elated with the praises 
of the multitude, which gradually extinguished the innate sense 
of shame, Commodus resolved to exhibit before the eyes of the 
Roman people, those exercises, which till then he had decently 
confined within the walls of his palace, and to the presence of his 
favorites 

On the appointed day the various motives of flattery, fear, and 
curiosty, attracted to the ampitheatre an innumerable multitude 
of spectators ; and some degree of applause was deservedly be- 
stowed on the uncommon skill of the imperial performer. Wheth- 
er he aimed at the head or heart of the animal, the wound was 
alike certain and mortal. With arrows, whose points were shap- 
ed in the form of a crescent, Commodus often intercepted the rap- 
id career, and cut asunder the long and bony neck of the ostrich. 
A panther was let loose, and the archer waited till he had leaped 
upon a trembling malefactor. In the same instant the shaft flew, 
the beast dropped dead, and the man remained unhurt. The dens 
of the amphitheatre disgorged at once a hundred lions ; a hundred 
darts in succession, from the unerring hand of Commodus laid 
them dead as they ran raging around the arena. 

Such, it appears, were the prowess and the sports of the ancient 
Romans, whose counterpart, as it respects this peculiar trait, the 
fights of the gladiators, was found among the Mexican usages of 
North America. 

Again, when the Romans first got footing in the island of Britain 
they erected or laid the foundation of a town, which they named 
Verulam, which soon took the title and rank of a city. This town, 



390 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

according to their peculiar manner, was at first circumscribed by 
a wall, including about one hundred acres, the traits of which still 
appear. 

These square enclosures are found in America, as treated upon 
in our account of the Roman squares, at or near Marietta ; 
strengthening the belief that Roman colonies have, in former ages 
settled in America. 



Traits of White JVations in Georgia and Kentucky before 
Columbus's Time, and the Traditions of the Indians re- 
specting them. 

From the American Journal of Sciences and the Arts, we have 
a highly interesting description of the gold districts in Georgia and 
North Carolina, extending west even unto the state of Tennessee. 
In this Journal, gold is treated on as being extremely abundant, 
and from the situation of the veins, is far more eligible to the op- 
erations of the minor, than the gold mines of South America ; 
these having, as is supposed, been greatly deranged in places, and 
buried deep by the operations of volcanoes, while those in the states 
are still in their primitive state of formation. 

Gold is found connected with various formations of slate, with 
red clay, and in the bottoms of streams, mingled with the sand and 
gravel. It is found with the heavy gravelly earth of the moun- 
tains, but most of all in the kind of rock called quartz, which is 
also mingled with slate. In North Carolina, on Valley river, gold 
is found in abundance, connected with the quartz rock, which also 
abounds with crystal, running in veins in every direction, in tis- 
sues from the size of a straw to that of a man's arm. The quartz 
is in great masses, very compact, and of a yellow golden hue, 
from the abundant presence of the metal. In the bottom of this 
river much deposited gold is found in strata. 

It would appear from the evidences yet remaining, that the an- 
cient inhabitants were not insensible to the existence of the golden 
mines here, nor, of course of their value ; for, "in the vicinity were 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 391 

fouud the remains of ancient works ; many shafts have been sunk 
by them in pursuit of the ore, and judging from the masses thrown 
up, one of them penetrated a quartz rock to a great depth, as a- 
bout thirty-feet still lies open to view. ' 

There is also a deep and difficult cut across a very bold vein of 
this rock, in pursuit of metal, but it is now much filled up, having 
been used subsequently for an Indian burying ground. At this 
place, says the Journal, nothing short of the steel pickaxe, could 
have left the traces on the stones which are found here. 

Not far from this place, have been found the remains of a small 
furnace, the walls of which had been formed of soap stone, so as 
to endure the heat without being fractured. In the county of Ha- 
bersham, in Georgia, was lately dug out of the earth, at a place 
where the gold ore is found, a small vessel in the form of a skillet. 
It was fifteen feet under ground, made of a compound of tin and 
copper, with a trace of iron. The copper and tin in its composi 
tion, are undoubtedly the evidence of its antiquity. See the plate 
at letter G, where an exact fac simile of this vessel is engraved 
taken from the Journal of Science and arts, conducted by profes- 
sor Silliman. 

Crucibles of earthen ware, and far better than those now in use, 
are frequently found by the miners. By actual experiment they 
are found to endure the heat three times as long as the Hessian 
crucibles, which are the best now in use. Bits of machinery, 
such as is necessay in elevating the ore from the depths, as used 
by the ancient nations, are also frequently found in the earth where 
those mines exist, which clearly shows those ancients were ac- 
quainted with the minerals. 

On the top of Yeona mountain, in the same region, still exist 
the remains of a stone wall, which exhibit the angles of a fortifi- 
cation, and guard the only accessible points of ascent to its summit. 
Timber in the Cherokee country, bearing marks of the axe, (not 
of stone,) have been taken up at the depth often feet below the 
surface. Indian tradition, says Mr. Silliman, gives no account of 
these remains. This article, which was found in the gold mine in 
Habersham county, formed of copper and tin, is m this respect, 
like the mining chisel described by Humboldt, on former page 
of this work. The timber found ten feet beaeath the surface, in 
Georgia and North Carolina, bearing the marks of having been 



392 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

cut down and cut in two with axes of metal, are to be referred to 
the operations of the Europeans— the Danes, Welch, &c. of whom, 
we have already spoken in several parts of this volume. We con- 
sider them the same with the authors of the stone walls which we 
have mentioned that were found in North Carolina, and also with 
the authors of the iron axes, found in a saltpeter cave, on the river 
Gasconade, far to the west, as mentioned in Beck's Gazetteer ; 
and also the same, with the authors of the stone buildings, a foun- 
dation of one of which is represented on the plate. — (See Frontis- 
piece.) 

It would appear from all this, that these Europeans had made 
extensive settlements in various places, extending over an immense 
range of this country, before they were cut off by the Indians ; as 
we cannot suppose any other enemy capable of so dreadful and 
general a slaughter. 

On the farm of a Mr. Richardson, a highly respectable gentleman 
in Georgia, Habersham county, was opened one of the first gold 
mines discovered in the southern states. At this place a mos 
singular discovery was also made, which was as follows : 

This gentleman being desirous of examining the stone stratum, 
which formed the bed of a small river j had recourse to a dam, 
which he carried across the stream, and turned the whole of its 
water into a canal he had excavated in a direction favoring the de- 
scent of the stream ; so that the bed where it had flowed was left 
dry. Now while digging and blasting the rocky bottom of this 
stream, he found, at a certain place, three feet below the surface, 
imbedded in the solid, compact rock, nearly a peck, or eight quarts 
of flints, which were elegantly wrought, for their adaptation to the 
gun-lock. Their form, however, in one respect, differs from the 
form of the flint suited to fire-arms now in use ; and this difference 
consists in there being a groove across the head or thick end of 
the flint, showing that the chuck or jaws of the cock of the gun in 
which they were used, had a corresponding protuberance, so that 
the flint was held by what is called by joiners, a dove-tail, instead 
of a screw, as the gun-lock is now manufactured. 

The whole of these curiously wrought flints were purchased by 
a gentleman, and carried to Milledgeville, Georgia, where he sold 
them as curiosities at a quarter of a dollar each 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST 39$ 

In Europe, the invention of gunpowder, with the flint, took 
place in 1340, one hundred and fifty-two years before the disco- 
very of America by Columbus, which was in 1492. It has been 
conjectured by some that these flints were lost by the ancient 
Spaniards, who were searching for the ancient city in America, 
called El Dorado, or the city of gold. 

But this will not do, as it would show that gunpowder had been 
discovered by the Spaniards in Europe ; which, if true, would 
have been known and ascribed to them, instead of to Swartz, the 
monk — unless we suppose that America had been found by the 
ancient Spaniards, long enough ago to have produced the forma- 
tion of the rock three feet thick, over the spot where they had 
been placed or lost by their last owner, which would throw the 
time of their being left there very far back. 

We should, if we can give any plausible opinion at all on this 
subject, incline to ascribe their invention and use to Europeans, 
of the Danish and Welch description, who, we have shown, 
found this country, and settled in it as early as between the 9th 
aud 10th centuries, which would give the stream nearly a thou- 
sand years to increase its stony deposits to the thickness of three 
feet, so that if by the upsetting of a boat, as they were going up, 
down or across this stream, the flints were lost at the bottom of 
the water, and being encased in a bag or basket, or any suitable 
vessel to hold them, is the reason why they were found in such 
compact order. 

But if this supposition is at all plausible, it follows that the in- 
vention was originated in America, as it would have been known 
in Europe, if it had been found out there before those Europeans 
came to America. The form of the flint, as it respects the manner 
in which it was held by the chuck or lips of the lock, shows that 
the invention was but a new one. Whether the lock was an iron,, 
copper, brass or wooden one, is unknown, or whether they had 
yet found out the adaptation of a gun barrel, is also unknown : 
but some mode of explosion, by the means of some sort of combus- 
tible matter, had doubtless been discovered, or the flint could have- 
had no use. 

That a perfect knowledge of this art was in their possession,we 
do not believe; as those white people, with the complete use and 
knowledge of guns, could never have been exterminated by the 



394 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Indians or natives of the country. And that they were extermi- 
nated by the Indians, we prove from their tradition, which relates 
that in the southern States, but particularly that of Kentucky, had 
been once settled by white people, and that they had been exter- 
minated by war. 

In 1800, some Indians of the Sacs tribe were at St. Louis, who 
on hearing it said that Kentucky was inhabited by white people, 
expressed much astonishment that any person should live in Ken- 
tucky, as it had been a place where much blood was shed, and 
that it was filled with the manes or souls of the butchered white 
inhabitants, a people who had arts among them unknown to the 
Indians. Even the word Kentucky, the name of the chief river 
of the State, signifies river of blood. — (J. H. McCulloch's Re- 
searches in America, p. 210 to 213.) 

To these people we should think the flints discovered as above 
belonged, and that the use of powder, or of some explosive mate- 
rial or other, by which, either through a tube of iron, copper, or 
wood, a bullet or arrows were discharged, with deadly effect, as 
we can see no other use to which the flints could have been ap- 
propriated. 

It is said that the ancient Phoenicians first discovered the art of 
manufacturing tools from the union of copper and tin, the same 
of which this skillet is found to be formed; and that of the Phoe- 
nicians the Greeks and Romans learned the art, who it is likely 
communicated the same to the ancient Britons ; and from these, 
in process of time, the Danes, the Welch, the Scotch, and the 
Norwegians, and brought it with them to the wilds of America. 
Or if we reject this, we may refer the working of those mines of 
gold, not to the Malays, Polynesian, and Australasian tribes; but 
rather to the more enlightened nations of Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, 
Rome, Media, Persia, Germany, all of whom, as we believe, have 
from time to time — from era to era, furnished emigrants to this 
country. 

In evidence, in part, of this belief, we refer the reader to such 
parts of this volume as attempt to make this appear, and especially 
to page 116 ; where an account of the Phoenician characters, 
as having been discovered in America, is mentioned. But how 
the article of copper, the skillet of which we have spoken, and 
is engraved on the plate, — and how the timber, which bears 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 395 

he mark of the axe, found buried in various places in North 
Carolina, came to be buried so deep, — is a question of no small 
moment. 

Surely the natural increase of earth, by the decay of vegetables 
and forests, could never have buried them thus deep ; their posi- 
tion would rather argue that they have been submerged by the 
sudden rush of waters. As favoring this opinion, we notice that 
the mountain ranges here are such as cross the rivers flowing 
from the west, which pass off to the sea, through North Carolina, 
South Carolina and Georgia. See the map of those States, when 
at once this appears to be the real formation and course of the 
mountains. 

One of these ranges is denominated the Yeona range, which 
gives off three separate sections ; one in Tennessee, one in west- 
ern North Carolina, and one in Georgia, all running along the 
western endc of these States, which lie along the Atlantic. The 
Blue Ridge and the Wuaka mountains approach each other, and 
form jointly the separation of the east from the west waters. As 
this range continues from the west, another range not less formi- 
dable approaches from the north. These are the Waldus Ridge 
and Cumberland mountains, which unite themselves with the for- 
mer; where this union takes place, it is called Lookout mountain. 
At this point of intersection, where the union of immense moun- 
tains on either side formed a barrier to the streams which flowed 
from fifty thousand square miles of country, the waters broke 
through. 

The evidence at this place of the war of the elements, is the 
admiration of all who pass the broken mountain, through what is 
called the suck or boiling cauldron, near the confines of the State 
of Tennessee. At this place, the vast accumulation of waters, if 
is evident, broke through and deluged the country below, toward 
the sea, overwhelming whatever settlements the Danes, or other 
people of the old world may have made there, especially alor-g the 
lowest grounds, till the waters were drained to the Atlantic : this 
position easily accounts for the appearances of such articles as 
have been disinterred, with that of timber, from the depths men- 
tioned in the Journal of Science. Such a circumstance may have 
gone far to weaken the j.rov.ess of those nations, s® that the sur- 
vivors dwelling on the highest grounds, could not recover their 



396 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

numbers, their order, their state of defence and security, against 
the Indians farther west,who it is likely watched all opportunities 
to destroy them. 

Finally, from all we can gather on this momentous subject, we 
are compelled from the overwhelming amount of evidence to admit 
that mighty nations, with almost unbounded empire, with various 
degrees of improvement, have occupied the continent, and that, as 
in the old world, empire has succeeded empire, rising one out of 
the other,, from the jarring interests of the unwieldy and ferocious 
mass — so also in this. 

And also, that convulsion has succeeded convulsion, deluge suc- 
ceeded deluge, breaking down mountains, the barriers of rivers, 
deranging and destroying the ancient surface, till it has at length 
assumed a settled and more permanent state of things, where the 
millions of the present race now inhabit. 

But the majestic yet fearful work of change and revolution, is 
doubtless going on in other worlds or planets as well as this, for 
wherever is the principle of life and motion, whether it belongs to 
organized and animated nature, or to the elements of which the 
earth is composed, the operation of revolution can but be going 
forward. 

It is believed and asserted by astronomers as their opinion, ob- 
tained from telescopic observation, that the moon, the satellite of 
the earth, is a globe in ruins, or if not so, it at least is frequently 
much convulsed by the operations of volcanic fires. Its surface, 
as seen through the glasses, is found extremely mountainous, pre- 
senting an infinite variety of pointed mountains, overhanging 
ranges of ledge and precipice, with vales and flat regions embo- 
somed between. Consequently, a great number of rivers, creeks, 
Jakes and small seas must divide the land of this globe into a 
vast number of tracts of country, which are doubtless filled with 
animals, — consequently with rational beings in the form of men, 
as ourselves, for we can conceive of none other, as fitted to 
preside over its animals. The same we believe of all the stars of 
heaven. 

In exact accordance with this doctrine of change, as it respects 
the removal of entire worlds, the Scriptures are full of allusions 
to such a catastrophe yet to take place. And why should it not? 
as He who made the worlds also dictated the composition of that 



AND DISCOVERIES IN THE WEST. 397 

book, and can therefore be supposed as able to signify, before- 
hand, the great change which awaits our earth, as is plainly found 
recorded in it, and that change to be effected by the agency of 
fire, as is supposed to operate in the moon. 

That fires do convulse that planet, is shown from the serolithis, 
or hot stones frequently thrown through the moon's atmosphere, 
from its surface or interior, by the force or power of volcanos, 
which have in a hundred instances fallen to our earth, of different 
magnitudes, in different ages of the world, which among the an- 
cient nations was supposed to be cast down from the gods as ob- 
jects of adoration, and their representatives. 

But, whatever changes are observed to be in progress, either 
in our globe, or its companion the moon., may also be supposed 
to succeed and be in progression with other worlds, planets or 
fixed stars, both as to the revolution of their surfaces, and their 
final extinction from the firmament where they are now situated, 
is concerned. 

In that most philosophical work, the Bible, yet by some but lit- 
tle thought of, are prophetical accounts of the final ruin of this 
earth by the agency of fire, the same element by which all animal 
or vegetable life are sustained and perpetuated, one of the bright- 
est proofs of the power and wisdom of God afforded in the material 
universe. But the destruction contemplated is only to cause room 
and opportunity for a grander display of the adaptation of another 
order of things, suited to such beings as have passed through the 
incipient degrees of the infancy of an intellectual state, and shall 
be found by him who is the judge of all virtue, worthy to be in- 
stalled in those exalted degrees of reasonable and tremendous an- 
gelic powers. 

We will just recount some of those predictions : See 2d Peter 
chapter iii., verse 7. "But the heavens and the earthy which 
are now, are kept in store, reserved unto fire, against the day 
of judgment." And at the tenth verse, " The heavens shall 
pass away, with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with 
heat. The earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be 
burnt up." 

Much more relative to the same point is found in the same book, 
which to corroborate by occurrences in the great field of the as- 
tronomical or planetary heavens, we give the following from 



jy© AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

Good's Book of Nature, a work whose praise is found in the lab- 
ratory of philosophical truth, p. 33 : "First lecture on matter and 
the material world." 

" But worlds and systems of worlds are not only perpetually 
creating by tb« hand of God, but are also perpetually diminishing 
and disappearing It is an extraordinary fact, that within the 
period of the last century, not less than thirteen stars, in different 
constellations, none below the sixth magnitude, seem totally to 
have perished — forty to have changed their magnitude, by becom- 
ing either much larger or much smaller, and ten new stars to 
have supplied the places of those that are lost. Some of these 
changes may perhaps be accounted for, by supposing a motion in 
the solar, or sidereal systems, by which the relative positions of 
several of the heavenly bodies have varied. But this explanation, 
though it may apply *-> several of the cases, will by no means 
apply to all of them. In many instances it is unquestionable that 
the stars (or suns) themselves, the supposed habitations of other 
kinds or orders of intelligent beings, together with the different 
planets by which it is probable they were surrounded, and to 
which they may have given light and productive seasons, as the 
sun gives light and fruitfulness to our earth, have utterly vanish- 
ed, and the spots which they occupied in the heavens have become 
blanks." 

But there are other instances of the disappearance of stars from 
the heavens. One hundred and twenty-five years before Christ, 
it is recorded by Hipparchus that an extraordinary luminary ap- 
peared suddenly in the firmament, but disappeared in the course 
of a few years. 

In 389 A. D., a star blazed forth near Aquilae, remained three 
weeks shining as bright as Venus, and then was seen no more. 
Tyco Brahe mentions the sudden appearance of a star as large 
and bright as Sirius, in the constellation Caseiopeia, and for a 
while was visible even at mid-day, but in the course of the year 
began to fade away, exhibiting all the signs of conflagration, and 
disappeared in March, 1574. Instances of the kind are mentioned 
by Sir John Herschel, one in particular which was situated in the 
head of the constellation Swan, in 1670. 

Such is the demonstration of change and revolution in the im- 
mensity of God's works,which is no doubt agreeable to the beauty 



AND DISCOVERIES IN. THE WEST. 399 

and harmony of the whole, proceeding on principles too deep, too 
abstruse for human research to penetrate. 

Therefore, in addition to all the changes which the earth has 
undergone, from general or local causes, it is yet to pass through 
another still more wonderful; and whether the matter of which it 
is now composed will assume some other form, and be adapted to 
other states of being, or shall utterly vanish and be annihilated, is 
unknown, yet it appears no less than thirteen of the heavenly 
bodies have passed away but a little while since, as shown above. 
Says Mr. Good, "What has thus befallen other systems will as- 
suredly befall our own." 

That the globe, the place where immense myriads of human 
beings have originated, and shall yet originate, is to be removed, 
and give place to another order of things, is justified not only in 
that great storehouse of moral philosophy and religious truth, the 
Bible, but also in the movements and changes of the heavenly 
bodies, as above noticed. Yet, as evident as it is that nature 
;n her march corroborates that book, in which is found the only 
reasonable and consistent account of the beginning of things, the 
creation of this globe and the other luminaries of the universe, 
there are found immense numbers of men, who but yesterday had 
no being, advocating the doctrine of the eternity of matter, to the 
exclusion of a Creator — as if nature were unoriginated and inde- 
pendent. 

But as nature is every where stamped with the footsteps and 
tokens of intellectual arrangement, throughout all her ramifica- 
tions, we come to the conclusion that she must have been produ- 
ced by an intellectual being ; as nature, in and of herself, gives 
no evidence of thought, or of one trait of optional power, — a cir- 
cumstance exceedingly strange, as we cannot conceive how that 
which cannot think, can originate beings who can. 

"Wherefore, there must be a God, who is an unoriginated, in- 
dependent, and an eternal being ; as on this belief the mind rests, 
and derives a peculiar pleasure — not afforded by the contrary 
opinion, as that matter or nature is the only directing and procur- 
ing cause of things, which cannot be. 

If, then, there is such a being, he is the natural governor of 
the universe, and especially of the intellectual beings who inhabit 
it If,then, he is its governor, it should be expected that he should 



400 ' AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 

announce himself, giving some account of his nature and chfir*Jc* T 
acter, and withal, the conditions of his government over intellect *+ <Jl 
iual beings. This we believe has been done, and that the Bible is 
the statute of that announcement, as it bears the character of so- 
briety and consistency^ as well as unparalleled majesty of thought 
and diction, which no other book on the globe can claim. It is in 
this book, which in one sense, may be styled the book of the an- 
tiquities of time and eternity; that it is said, that this earth shall 
be removed, and shall give place to another, at which time a con- 
vulsion that shall shake the solar system will take place. 

At that time, according to this great record, as prophesied of 
by the ancient seers, the whole human family, with innumerable 
hosts of angelic beings, shall be present at this overturn of na- 
ture; when the great machinery of t his system shall have run 
down, and a new one be instituted in its place, of a different cha- 
racter and for different purposes ; and mightier and more varied 
displays of Omnipotent power and wisdom be brought to view, 
from the deep cabinet of the eternal energy. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: March 2010 

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